Engineered transaminase polypeptides for industrial biocatalysis

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides engineered transaminase polypeptides useful for the synthesis of chiral amine compounds under industrially relevant conditions. The disclosure also provides polynucleotides encoding the engineered transaminase polypeptides, host cells capable of expressing the engineered transaminases, and methods of using the engineered transaminases for the production of chiral amine compounds.

The present application is Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/768,408, filed Aug. 17, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,617,573, whichis a national stage application filed under 35 USC § 371 and claimspriority to international application to PCT International ApplicationNo. PCT/US2014/018005, filed Feb. 24, 2014 which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application. Ser. No. 61/770,814, filed Feb. 28, 2013, allof which are incorporated by reference, in their entireties and for allpurposes.

1. TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to engineered transaminase polypeptides usefulunder industrial process conditions for the production of pharmaceuticaland fine chemical amine compounds.

2. REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, TABLE OR COMPUTER PROGRAM

The official copy of the Sequence Listing is submitted concurrently withthe specification as an ASCII formatted text file via EFS-Web, with afile name of “CX2-129WO2_ST25.txt”, a creation date of Jan. 29, 2014 anda size of 647,890 bytes. The Sequence Listing filed via EFS-Web is partof the specification and incorporated in its entirety by referenceherein.

3. BACKGROUND

Transaminases (E.C. 2.6.1) catalyze the transfer of an amino group, apair of electrons, and a proton from an amino donor compound to the ketogroup of an amino acceptor compound. Transaminase reactions can resultin the formation of a chiral amine product compound. As shown in Scheme1, an amino acceptor compound (B) (which is the keto substrate precursorof a desired chiral amine product (D)) is reacted with an amino donorcompound (A) in the presence of a transaminase. The transaminasecatalyzes the transfer of the primary amine group of the amino donorcompound (A) to the keto group of the amino acceptor compound (B). Thetransaminase reaction results in a chiral amine product compound (D)(assuming R¹ is not the same as R²) and a new amino acceptor byproduct(or “carbonyl byproduct”) compound (C) which has a keto group.

Chiral amine compounds are frequently used in the pharmaceutical,agrochemical and chemical industries as intermediates or synthons forthe preparation of wide range of commercially desired compounds, such ascephalosporine or pyrrolidine derivatives. Typically these industrialapplications of chiral amine compounds involve using only one particularstereomeric form of the molecule, e.g., only the (R) or the (S)enantiomer is physiologically active. Transaminases are highlystereoselective and have many potential industrial uses for thesynthesis of optically pure chiral amine compounds.

Examples of the uses of transaminases to make chiral amine compoundsinclude: the enantiomeric enrichment of amino acids (See e.g., Shin etal., 2001, Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem. 65:1782-1788; Iwasaki et al.,2003, Biotech. Lett. 25:1843-1846; Iwasaki et al., 2004, Appl. Microb.Biotech. 69:499-505, Yun et al., 2004, Appl. Environ. Microbiol.70:2529-2534; and Hwang et al., 2004, Enzyme Microbiol. Technol.34:429-426); the preparation of intermediates and precursors ofpregabalin (e.g., WO 2008/127646); the enzymatic transamination ofcyclopamine analogs (e.g., WO 2011/017551); the stereospecific synthesisand enantiomeric enrichment of β-amino acids (e.g., WO 2005/005633); theenantiomeric enrichment of amines (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,950,606;5,300,437; and 5,169,780); the production of amino acids and derivatives(e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,316,943; 4,518,692; 4,826,766; 6,197,558; and4,600,692); and in the production of the pharmaceutical compounds,sitagliptin, rivastigmine, and vernakalant (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No.8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23, 2012; Savile, et al., 2010, “Biocatalyticasymmetric synthesis of chiral amines from ketones applied tositagliptin manufacture,” Science 329(5989): 305-9; WO2011/159910,published Dec. 22, 2011; and WO2012/024104, published Feb. 23, 2012).

Wild-type transaminases having the ability to catalyze a reaction ofScheme 1 have been isolated from various microorganisms, including, butnot limited to, Alcaligenes denitrificans, Bordetella bronchiseptica,Bordetella parapertussis, Brucella melitensis, Burkholderia malle,Burkholderia pseudomallei, Chromobacterium violaceum, Oceanicolagranulosus HTCC2516, Oceanobacter sp. RED65, Oceanospirillum sp. MED92,Pseudomonas putida, Ralstonia solanacearum, Rhizobium meliloti,Rhizobium sp. (strain NGR234), Bacillus thuringensis, Klebsiellapneumonia, Vibrio fluvialis (See e.g., Shin et al., 2001, Biosci.Biotechnol, Biochem. 65:1782-1788), and Arthrobacter sp. KNK168 (Seee.g., Iwasaki et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2006, 69: 499-505,U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,592). Several of these wild-type transaminase genesand encoded polypeptides have been sequenced, including e.g., Ralstoniasolanacearum (Genbank Acc. No. YP_002257813.1, GI:207739420),Burkholderia pseudomallei 1710b (Genbank Acc. No. ABA47738.1,GI:76578263), Bordetella petrii (Genbank Acc. No. AM902716.1,GI:163258032), Vibrio fluvialis JS17 (Genbank Acc. No. AEA39183.1, GI:327207066), and Arthrobacter sp. KNK168 (GenBank Acc. No. BAK39753.1,GI:336088341). At least two wild-type transaminases of classes EC2.6.1.18 and EC 2.6.1-19, have been crystallized and structurallycharacterized (See e.g., Yonaha et al., 1983, Agric. Biol. Chem. 47(10):2257-2265).

Transaminases are known that have (R)-selective or (S)-selectivestereoselectively. For example, the wild-type transaminase fromArthrobacter sp. KNK168 is considered (R)-selective and producesprimarily (R)-amine compounds from certain substrates (See e.g., Iwasakiet al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2006, 69: 499-505, U.S. Pat. No.7,169,592), whereas the wild-type transaminase from Vibrio fluvialisJS17 is considered (S)-selective and produces primarily (S)-aminecompounds from certain substrates (See e.g., Shin et al., “Purification,characterization, and molecular cloning of a novel amine:pyruvatetransaminase from Vibrio fluvialis JS17,” Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol.61 (5-6), 463-471 (2003)).

Non-naturally occurring transaminases having (R)-selectivity, increasedsolvent and thermal stability, and other improved properties for theconversion of a wide range of amino acceptor substrates, have beengenerated by mutagenesis and/or directed evolution of wild-type andother engineered transaminase backbone sequences (See e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23, 2012; WO2011/005477A1, published Jan.13, 2011; WO2012/024104, published Feb. 23, 2012; and Savile, et al.,2010, “Biocatalytic asymmetric synthesis of chiral amines from ketonesapplied to sitagliptin manufacture,” Science 329(5989): 305-9).

However, transaminases generally have properties that are undesirablefor commercial application in the preparation of chiral amine compounds,such as instability to industrially useful process conditions (e.g.,solvent, temperature), poor recognition of, and stereoselectivity for,commercially useful amino acceptor and/or amino donor substrates, andlow product yields due to unfavorable reaction equilibrium. Thus, thereis a need for engineered transaminases that can be used in industrialprocesses for preparing chiral amines compounds in an optically activeform.

4. SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides engineered polypeptides havingtransaminase activity, polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides,methods of the making the polypeptides, and methods of using thepolypeptides for the biocatalytic conversion of amino acceptor substratecompounds (i.e., keto group containing compounds) to chiral amineproduct compounds. The transaminase polypeptides of the presentdisclosure have been engineered to have one or more residue differencesas compared to a previously engineered transaminase polypeptide (ofamino acid sequence SEQ ID NO:2) and associated enhanced solvent andthermal stability relative to previously engineered transaminasepolypeptides (See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23,2012; PCT Publication WO2011005477A1, published Jan. 13, 2011, and PCTpublication WO2012024104, published Feb. 23, 2012). The amino residuedifferences are located at residue positions that result in improvementof various enzyme properties, including among others, activity,stereoselectivity, stability, expression, and product tolerance.

In particular, the engineered transaminase polypeptides of the presentdisclosure have been engineered for efficient conversion of thesubstrate,4-oxo-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl]-1-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)butan-2-one(referred to herein as “compound (2)”) to its corresponding chiral amineproduct compound,(2R)-4-oxo-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl]-1-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)butan-2-amine(referred to herein as “compound (1)”) as shown in Scheme 2.

Compound (1), also known by the name “sitagliptin,” is the activeingredient in JANUVIA®, a pharmaceutical product which has receivedmarketing approval in the U.S. and other countries for the treatment ofType 2 diabetes.

The evolved structural features of the engineered transaminasepolypeptides of the present disclosure, however, also allow for thebiocatalytic conversion of a range of ketone substrate compounds ofFormula (II) (including compounds other than compound (2)) to theircorresponding chiral amine product compounds of Formula (I) (includingcompounds other than compound (1)) as shown in Scheme 3,

wherein

Z is OR² or NR²R^(3;)

R¹ is C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl, heteroaryl-C₁₋₂alkyl, or a 5- to 6-membered heterocyclic ring system optionallycontaining an additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, theheterocyclic ring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to threesubstituents independently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and C₁₋₄ alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines;

R² and R³ are each independently hydrogen, C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, oraryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl; or

R² and R³ together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attachedform a 4- to 7-membered heterocyclic ring system optionally containingan additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, the heterocyclicring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituentsindependently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and C₁₋₄alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted or substituted withone to five fluorines; and the heterocyclic ring system being optionallyfused with a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic carbocyclic ringsystem or a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic heterocyclic ringsystem containing one to two heteroatoms selected from O, S, and N, thefused ring system being unsubstituted or substituted with one to twosubstituents selected from hydroxy, amino, fluorine, C₁₋₄ alkyl, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and trifluoromethyl.

In some embodiments, the engineered transaminase polypeptide are capableof biocatalytic conversion of compounds of Formula (II) to compounds ofFormula (I) having the indicated stereochemical configuration at thestereogenic center marked with an *; in an enantiomeric excess of atleast 70% over the opposite enantiomer.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides an engineeredpolypeptide having transaminase activity comprising an amino acidsequence having at least 80% sequence identity to reference sequence ofSEQ ID NO:2 and (a) an amino acid residue difference as compared to SEQID NO:2 selected from X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G, X48D/E/G/K/T,X51K, X54P, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q, X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R, X160P,X215G/H/L, X241R, X270T, X273H, X325M; and X241R, and/or (b) acombination of residue differences selected from: X42G, X54P, X152S, andX155T; X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T, and R164P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,and X155T; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, and X267V; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, and C215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T,X215G, and X267V; X33L; X42G, X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q,and C215G; and X41K, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G;X33L, X42G, X54P, X109S, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L,X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X215H, and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q,and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G,and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, andX215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F,X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X42G, X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X69S, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P,X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P,X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P,X126M, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X192F, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X215G, and X224I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y,X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y,X215G, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,X282V, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G,and X241R; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X284I; and X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Y, and X215G.

In some embodiments of the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity of the present disclosure, the amino acid sequence can furthercomprise one or more residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q,X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q,X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P,X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H,X325M, and X328I.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides an engineeredpolypeptide having transaminase activity comprising an amino acidsequence having at least 80% sequence identity to reference sequence ofSEQ ID NO:2 and (a) an amino acid residue difference as compared to SEQID NO:2 selected from G36C, I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M, I41N, I41R, E42G,P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T, A51K, S54P, M122F, M122Q, Y148Q, C152T,Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T, Q155V, C215H, C215L, Y273H, L325M, andA241R; or (b) a combination of residue differences selected from: A5K,E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; P33L, I41C, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, and C215G; P33L, I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L; P33L, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, A109S, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q,and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, andC215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I. and C215H; G36C, E42G, P48K, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, andC215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, C215H, and A241R; G36C,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155V,and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G andI267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155K; I41C, E42G,S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G,S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and F160P; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L,and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, F160P, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155T, W156Q, and C215L; I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T,Q155V, W156Q, and C215G; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,V171I, and C215G; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q,V171I,C215G, and A241R; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, andC215G; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K,E42G, P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S,Q155L, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L,and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41N, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, andF160P; I41N, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N,S49T, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A,A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q,S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, and C215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T,S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T,S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T,S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G,S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S,Q155T, L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,and C215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G;E42G, S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P,N76S, T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G,S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q, and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G,S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P,M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P,M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P,T126M, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y,C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y,C215G, and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G,S282V, and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P,and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q,and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,C215G, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155T, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, andI267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155I, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S;E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T,L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155V, and W156S.

In some embodiments of the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity of the present disclosure, the engineered polypeptide iscapable of converting a substrate of compound (2) to a product ofcompound (1) under suitable reaction conditions. In some embodiments,the engineered polypeptide is capable of converting compound (2) tocompound (1) with at least 1.2 fold, 2 fold, 5 fold, 10 fold, 20 fold,25 fold, 50 fold, 75 fold, 100 fold, or greater the activity of SEQ IDNO:2 under suitable reaction conditions. In some embodiments, theengineered polypeptide is capable of converting compound (2) to compound(1) with increased activity relative to SEQ ID NO:2 in which thesuitable reaction conditions comprise compound (1) at a loading of atleast 50 g/L, 1 mM PLP, 50% DMSO (v/v), 1.5 M isopropylamine, pH 11, and55° C.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the amino acid sequenceof the engineered polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from thefollowing exemplary sequences of SEQ ID NO:4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18,20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38,40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54,56, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90,92, 94, 96, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120,122, 124, 126, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 140, 142, 144, 146, 148,150, 152, 154, 154, 156, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174,176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200, 202,204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230,232, 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, 250, 252, 254, 256, 258,260, 262, 264, 266, 268, 270, 272, 274, 276, 278, 280, 282, 284, 286,288, 290, 292, 294, 296, 298, 300, 302, 304, and 306. Each of theseexemplary polypeptide sequences comprises a different combination of theamino acid differences relative to SEQ ID NO:2 as disclosed herein (Seee.g., Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C). In some embodiments, the engineeredpolypeptide comprises a sequence having at least 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%,88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or moreidentity to any one of these exemplary sequences, and further comprisinga combination of amino acid differences relative to SEQ ID NO:2, asfound in any one of these exemplary amino acid sequences. In someembodiments, the engineered polypeptide comprising a combination ofamino acid differences relative to SEQ ID NO:2, as found in any one ofthese exemplary amino acid sequences can further comprise additionalamino acid differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: X5K,X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K,X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q, X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T,X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L,X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, and X328I; or other amino aciddifferences disclosed in the art of engineered transaminase polypeptides(See e.g., amino acid differences disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507B2, issued Oct. 23, 2012; WO2011/005477A1, published Jan. 13, 2011;WO2012/024104, published Feb. 23, 2012.)

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the engineeredpolypeptide having transaminase activity is immobilized on a solidsupport, optionally wherein the solid support is selected from a bead orresin comprising polymethacrylate with epoxide functional groups,polymethacrylate with amino epoxide functional groups, styrene/DVBcopolymer or polymethacrylate with octadecyl functional groups.

In other aspects, the present disclosure provides a polynucleotideencoding the engineered polypeptide having transaminase activitydisclosed herein. In some embodiments, the polynucleotide can comprise anucleotide sequence selected from SEQ ID NO:3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53,55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89,91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 101, 103, 105, 107, 109, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119,121, 123, 125, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 141, 143, 145, 147,149, 151, 153, 155, 157, 159, 161, 163, 165, 167, 169, 171, 173, 175,177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 189, 191, 193, 195, 197, 199, 201, 203,205, 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, 219, 221, 223, 225, 227, 229, 231,233, 235, 237, 239, 241, 243, 245, 247, 249, 251, 253, 255, 257, 259,261, 263, 265, 267, 269, 271, 273, 375, 277, 279, 281, 283, 285, 287,291, 293, 295, 297, 299, 301, 303, and 305.

Further, the present disclosure provides expression vectors and hostcells comprising a polynucleotide encoding the engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity disclosed herein. Thus, in someembodiments, the present disclosure provides an expression vectorcomprising the polynucleotide encoding an engineered polypeptide asdisclosed herein, and optionally further comprising a control sequence.In other embodiments, the present disclosure provides a host cellcomprising a polynucleotide encoding an engineered polypeptide asdisclosed herein. In other embodiments, the present disclosure providesa host cell comprising an expression vector, wherein the expressionvector comprises a polynucleotide encoding an engineered polypeptide asdisclosed herein. In other embodiments, of the present disclosureprovides a method of preparing an engineered polypeptide as disclosedherein, wherein the method comprises culturing a host cell of underconditions suitable for expression of the polypeptide. In someembodiments, the method of preparing the engineered polypeptide furthercomprises isolating the polypeptide.

The present disclosure also provides processes for using the engineeredtransaminase polypeptides disclosed herein for the preparation of widerange of chiral amine compounds. In some embodiments, the presentdisclosure provides a method for preparing a compound of structuralFormula (I):

having the indicated stereochemical configuration at the stereogeniccenter marked with an *; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% overthe opposite enantiomer, wherein

Z is OR² or NR²R³;

R¹ is C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl, heteroaryl-C₁₋₂alkyl, or a 5- to 6-membered heterocyclic ring system optionallycontaining an additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, theheterocyclic ring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to threesubstituents independently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and C₁₋₄ alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines;

R² and R³ are each independently hydrogen, C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, oraryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl; or

R² and R³ together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attachedform a 4- to 7-membered heterocyclic ring system optionally containingan additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, the heterocyclicring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituentsindependently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and C₁₋₄alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted or substituted withone to five fluorines; and the heterocyclic ring system being optionallyfused with a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic carbocyclic ringsystem or a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic heterocyclic ringsystem containing one to two heteroatoms selected from O, S, and N, thefused ring system being unsubstituted or substituted with one to twosubstituents selected from hydroxy, amino, fluorine, C₁₋₄ alkyl, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and trifluoromethyl; the process comprising the step ofcontacting a prochiral ketone of structural Formula (II):

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor in a suitable organic solvent under suitable reactionconditions.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound ofstructural Formula (I), R¹ is benzyl and the phenyl group of benzyl isunsubstituted or substituted one to three substituents selected from thegroup consisting of fluorine, trifluoromethyl, and trifluoromethoxy. Insome embodiments of the process, Z is NR²R³, wherein NR²R³ is aheterocycle of the structural Formula (III):

wherein R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl which is unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound ofstructural Formula (I), the compound of Formula (II) specificallyexcludes compound (2) and the compound of Formula (I) prepared by themethod specificall excludes compound (1).

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides process forpreparing a compound of structural Formula (Ia):

having the (R)-configuration at the stereogenic center marked with an***; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% over the enantiomerhaving the opposite (S)-configuration; wherein

Ar is phenyl which is unsubstituted or substituted with one to fivesubstituents independently selected from the group consisting offluorine, trifluoromethyl, and trifluoromethoxy; and

R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl unsubstituted or substituted with one tofive fluorines; the process comprising the step of:

contacting a prochiral ketone of structural Formula (IIa):

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions. In someembodiments of the process for preparing the compound of Formula (Ia),Ar is selected from 2,5-difluorophenyl or 2,4,5-trifluorophenyl, and R⁴is trifluoromethyl.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound ofstructural Formula (Ia), the compound of Formula (IIa) specificallyexcludes compound (2) and the compound of Formula (Ia) prepared by themethod specificall excludes compound (1).

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a process ofpreparing compound (1)

comprising a step of contacting a substrate of compound (2)

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure also provides a process ofpreparing compound (3), gemigliptin,

comprising a step of contacting a substrate of compound (4), or asubstrate of compound (4) modified with a protecting group,

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the chiral amine compound ofFormula (I), the compound of Formula (Ia), the compound (1), or thecompound (3), is produced in at least 90%, 97%, 98%, 99% or greaterenantiomeric excess.

Any of the processes disclosed herein using the engineered polypeptidesfor the preparation of compounds of Formula (I), compounds of Formula(Ia), compound (1), or compound (3) can be carried out under a range ofsuitable reaction conditions, including but not limited to, ranges ofamine donor, pH, temperature, buffer, solvent system, substrate loading,polypeptide loading, cofactor loading, pressure, and reaction time. Forexample, in some embodiments, the preparation of compounds of Formula(I), compounds of Formula (Ia), compound (1), or compound (3) can becarried out wherein the suitable reaction conditions comprise: (a)substrate loading of about 10 to 200 g/L of substrate compound (e.g.,compound (2)); (b) of about 0.5 g/L to 5 g/L engineered polypeptide; (c)IPM concentration of about 0.1 to 3 M; (d) PLP cofactor concentration ofabout 0.1 to 1 mM; (e) DMSO concentration of about 30% (v/v) to about60% (v/v); (f) pH of about 9.5 to 11.5; and (g) temperature of about 45°C. to 60° C. In some embodiments, the suitable reaction conditionscomprise: (a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound (e.g., compound (2));(b) about 2 g/L engineered polypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v)dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO); (d) about 1 M isopropylamine (IPM); (e) about1 mM pyridoxal phosphate (PLP); (f) about pH 10; and (g) about 50° C.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the amino group donor isselected from isopropylamine, alanine, 3-aminobutyric acid, ormethylbenzylamine In some embodiments, the amino group donor isisopropylamine.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the process comprisesfurther steps of isolating the product compounds of Formula (I), Formula(Ia), compound (1), or compound (3), from the reaction.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the process furthercomprises the step of converting the compound of Formula (I), compoundof Formula (Ia), the compound (1) or the compound (3) into apharmaceutically acceptable salt. In some embodiments, the process offorming the pharmaceutically acceptable salt comprises the further stepof contacting said compound with a pharmaceutically acceptable acid in asuitable reaction solvent. In some embodiments of the process, thepharmaceutically acceptable acid is phosphoric acid and thepharmaceutically acceptable salt is the dihydrogen phosphate salt. Insome embodiments, the processes can further comprise the step ofcrystallizing the pharmaceutically acceptable salt from the reactionsolvent.

As noted above, the compound (1) is sitagliptin, the activepharmaceutical ingredient in JANUVIA®. Accordingly, the processesdisclosed herein using engineered polypeptides for making compound (1),and/or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt or acid, can be used inlarger processes for the production of JANUVIA® or relatedpharmaceutical compounds. In some embodiments the present disclosurealso provides a process for the preparation of(2R)-4-oxo-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl]-1-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)butan-2-amine phosphate(1:1) monohydrate, wherein the process comprises a step of converting asubstrate compound (2) to a product compound (1) by contacting asubstrate of compound (2) with an engineered polypeptide as disclosedherein in the presence of an amino group donor under suitable reactionconditions.

Similarly, the present disclosure provides a process for the preparationof compound (3), or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or acid ofcompound (3), wherein the process comprises a step of converting asubstrate compound (4), or a substrate of compound (4) modified with aprotecting group, to a product compound (3), by contacting a substrateof compound (4), or a substrate of compound (4) modified with aprotecting group, with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein inthe presence of an amino group donor under suitable reaction conditions.

Further guidance on the choice of engineered polypeptides, theirpreparation, the choice of substrates, and parameters for carrying outthe processes are further described in the more detailed description andExamples that follow.

5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singularforms “a”, “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “apolypeptide” includes more than one polypeptide.

Similarly, “comprise,” “comprises,” “comprising” “include,” “includes,”“including,” “have,” and “having” are interchangeable and not intendedto be limiting.

It is to be understood that where descriptions of various embodimentsuse the term “comprising,” those skilled in the art would understandthat in some specific instances, an embodiment can be alternativelydescribed using language “consisting essentially of” or “consisting of.”

It is to be further understood that both the foregoing generaldescription, including the drawings, and the following detaileddescription are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictiveof this disclosure.

The section headings used herein are for organizational purposes onlyand not to be construed as limiting the subject matter described.

5.1 Abbreviations

The abbreviations used for the genetically encoded amino acids areconventional and are as follows:

Three-Letter One-Letter Amino Acid Abbreviation Abbreviation Alanine AlaA Arginine Arg R Asparagine Asn N Aspartate Asp D Cysteine Cys CGlutamate Glu E Glutamine Gln Q Glycine Gly G Histidine HIS H IsoleucineIle I Leucine Leu L Lysine Lys K Methionine Met M Phenylalanine Phe FProline Pro P Serine Ser S Threonine Thr T Tryptophan Trp W Tyrosine TyrY Valine Val V

When the three-letter abbreviations are used, unless specificallypreceded by an “L” or a “D” or clear from the context in which theabbreviation is used, the amino acid may be in either the L- orD-configuration about α-carbon (C_(α)). For example, whereas “Ala”designates alanine without specifying the configuration about theα-carbon, “D-Ala” and “L-Ala” designate D-alanine and L-alanine,respectively. When the one-letter abbreviations are used, upper caseletters designate amino acids in the L-configuration about the α-carbonand lower case letters designate amino acids in the D-configurationabout the α-carbon. For example, “A” designates L-alanine and “a”designates D-alanine. When polypeptide sequences are presented as astring of one-letter or three-letter abbreviations (or mixturesthereof), the sequences are presented in the amino (N) to carboxy (C)direction in accordance with common convention.

The abbreviations used for the genetically encoding nucleosides areconventional and are as follows: adenosine (A); guanosine (G); cytidine(C); thymidine (T); and uridine (U). Unless specifically delineated, theabbreviated nucleotides may be either ribonucleosides or2′-deoxyribonucleosides. The nucleosides may be specified as beingeither ribonucleosides or 2′-deoxyribonucleosides on an individual basisor on an aggregate basis. When nucleic acid sequences are presented as astring of one-letter abbreviations, the sequences are presented in the5′ to 3′ direction in accordance with common convention, and thephosphates are not indicated.

5.2 Definitions

In reference to the present disclosure, the technical and scientificterms used in the descriptions herein will have the meanings commonlyunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art, unless specificallydefined otherwise. Accordingly, the following terms are intended to havethe following meanings:

“Protein”, “polypeptide,” and “peptide” are used interchangeably hereinto denote a polymer of at least two amino acids covalently linked by anamide bond, regardless of length or post-translational modification(e.g., glycosylation, phosphorylation, lipidation, myristilation,ubiquitination, etc.). Included within this definition are D- andL-amino acids, and mixtures of D- and L-amino acids.

“Transaminase” or “aminotransferase” are used interchangeably herein torefer to a polypeptide having an enzymatic capability of transferring anamino group (—NH₂), a pair of electrons, and a proton from the primaryamine of an amine donor compound to the carbonyl group (C═O) of an amineacceptor compound, thereby converting the amine donor compound into itscorresponding carbonyl compound and the carbonyl acceptor compound intoits corresponding primary amine compound (See e.g., Scheme 1).Transaminases as used herein include naturally occurring (wild type)transaminase as well as non-naturally occurring engineered polypeptidesgenerated by human manipulation.

“Amino group donor” or “amino donor” used interchangeably herein torefer to an amino group containing compound which is capable of donatingan amino group to an acceptor carbonyl compound (i.e., an amino groupacceptor), thereby becoming a carbonyl by-product Amino group donorshave the general structural formula,

in which each of R¹, and R², when taken independently, is an alkyl, analkylaryl group, or aryl group which is unsubstituted or substitutedwith one or more enzymatically non-inhibiting groups. R¹ can be the sameor different from R² in structure or chirality. The groups R¹ and R²,taken together, may form a ring that is unsubstituted, substituted, orfused to other rings. Typical amino group donors include chiral andachiral amino acids, and chiral and achiral amines.

“Chiral amine” refers to amines of general formula R^(α)—CH(NH₂)—R^(β)and is employed herein in its broadest sense, including a wide varietyof aliphatic and alicyclic compounds of different, and mixed, functionaltypes, characterized by the presence of a primary amino group bound to asecondary carbon atom which, in addition to a hydrogen atom, carrieseither (i) a divalent group forming a chiral cyclic structure, or (ii)two substituents (other than hydrogen) differing from each other instructure or chirality. Divalent groups forming a chiral cyclicstructure include, for example, 2-methylbutane-1,4-diyl,pentane-1,4-diyl,hexane-1,4-diyl, hexane-1,5-diyl,2-methylpentane-1,5-diyl. The two different substituents on thesecondary carbon atom (R^(α) and R^(β) above) also can vary widely andinclude alkyl, arylalkyl, aryl, halo, hydroxy, lower alkyl, loweralkyloxy, lower alkylthio, cycloalkyl, carboxy, carbalkyloxy, carbamoyl,mono- and di-(lower alkyl) substituted carbamoyl, trifluoromethyl,phenyl, nitro, amino, mono- and di-(lower alkyl) substituted amino,alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylcarboxamido, arylcarboxamido, etc., aswell as alkyl, arylalkyl, or aryl substituted by the foregoing.

“Carbonyl by-product” refers to the carbonyl compound formed from theamino group donor when the amino group on the amino group donor istransferred to the amino group acceptor in a transamination reaction.The carbonyl by-product has the general structural formula,

wherein R¹ and R² are defined above for the amino group donor.

“Amino acceptor” and “amine acceptor,” “keto substrate,” are usedinterchangeably herein to refer to a carbonyl group containing compoundthat accepts the amino group from an amino group donor in a reactionmediated by a transaminase (See e.g., Scheme 1). In the context of thepresent disclosure, the amino acceptor compound for the transaminase caninclude, among others, the compound of Formula (II), the compound ofFormula (IIa), the compound (2), and the compound (4), as furtherdescribed herein.

“Cofactor,” as used herein, refers to a non-protein compound thatoperates in combination with an enzyme in catalyzing a reaction. As usedherein, “cofactor” is intended to encompass the vitamin B₆ familycompounds PLP, PN, PL, PM, PNP, and PMP, which are sometimes alsoreferred to as coenzymes.

“Pyridoxal-phosphate,” “PLP,” “pyridoxal-5′-phosphate,” “PYP,” and “P5P”are used interchangeably herein to refer to the compound that acts as acofactor in transaminase reactions. In some embodiments, pyridoxalphosphate is defined by the structure1-(4′-formyl-3′-hydroxy-2′-methyl-5′-pyridyl)methoxyphosphonic acid, CASnumber [54-47-7]. Pyridoxal-5′-phosphate can be produced in vivo byphosphorylation and oxidation of pyridoxol (also known as Vitamin B₆).In transamination reactions using transaminase enzymes, the amine groupof the amino donor is transferred to the cofactor to produce a ketobyproduct, while pyridoxal-5′-phosphateconverted to pyridoxaminephosphate. Pyridoxal-5′-phosphateregenerated by reaction with adifferent keto compound (the amino acceptor). The transfer of the aminegroup from pyridoxamine phosphate to the amino acceptor produces anamine and regenerates the cofactor. In some embodiments, thepyridoxal-5′-phosphate can be replaced by other members of the vitaminB₆ family, including pyridoxine (PN), pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxamine (PM),and their phosphorylated counterparts; pyridoxine phosphate (PNP), andpyridoxamine phosphate (PMP).

“Coding sequence” refers to that portion of a nucleic acid (e.g., agene) that encodes an amino acid sequence of a protein.

“Naturally-occurring” or “wild-type” refers to the form found in nature.For example, a naturally occurring or wild-type polypeptide orpolynucleotide sequence is a sequence present in an organism that can beisolated from a source in nature and which has not been intentionallymodified by human manipulation.

“Recombinant” or “engineered” or “non-naturally occurring” when usedwith reference to, e.g., a cell, nucleic acid, or polypeptide, refers toa material, or a material corresponding to the natural or native form ofthe material, that has been modified in a manner that would nototherwise exist in nature, or is identical thereto but produced orderived from synthetic materials and/or by manipulation usingrecombinant techniques. Non-limiting examples include, among others,recombinant cells expressing genes that are not found within the native(non-recombinant) form of the cell or express native genes that areotherwise expressed at a different level.

“Percentage of sequence identity” and “percentage homology” are usedinterchangeably herein to refer to comparisons among polynucleotides andpolypeptides, and are determined by comparing two optimally alignedsequences over a comparison window, wherein the portion of thepolynucleotide or polypeptide sequence in the comparison window maycomprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) as compared to thereference sequence for optimal alignment of the two sequences. Thepercentage may be calculated by determining the number of positions atwhich the identical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs inboth sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing thenumber of matched positions by the total number of positions in thewindow of comparison and multiplying the result by 100 to yield thepercentage of sequence identity. Alternatively, the percentage may becalculated by determining the number of positions at which either theidentical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in bothsequences or a nucleic acid base or amino acid residue is aligned with agap to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number ofmatched positions by the total number of positions in the window ofcomparison and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage ofsequence identity. Those of skill in the art appreciate that there aremany established algorithms available to align two sequences. Optimalalignment of sequences for comparison can be conducted, e.g., by thelocal homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman, 1981, Adv. Appl. Math.2:482, by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch,1970, J. Mol. Biol. 48:443, by the search for similarity method ofPearson and Lipman, 1988, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444, bycomputerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA,and TFASTA in the GCG Wisconsin Software Package), or by visualinspection (see generally, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, F. M.Ausubel et al., eds., Current Protocols, a joint venture between GreenePublishing Associates, Inc. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., (1995Supplement) (Ausubel)). Examples of algorithms that are suitable fordetermining percent sequence identity and sequence similarity are theBLAST and BLAST 2.0 algorithms, which are described in Altschul et al.,1990, J. Mol. Biol. 215: 403-410 and Altschul et al., 1977, NucleicAcids Res. 3389-3402, respectively. Software for performing BLASTanalyses is publicly available through the National Center forBiotechnology Information website. This algorithm involves firstidentifying high scoring sequence pairs (HSPs) by identifying shortwords of length W in the query sequence, which either match or satisfysome positive-valued threshold score T when aligned with a word of thesame length in a database sequence. T is referred to as, theneighborhood word score threshold (Altschul et al, supra). These initialneighborhood word hits act as seeds for initiating searches to findlonger HSPs containing them. The word hits are then extended in bothdirections along each sequence for as far as the cumulative alignmentscore can be increased. Cumulative scores are calculated using, fornucleotide sequences, the parameters M (reward score for a pair ofmatching residues; always >0) and N (penalty score for mismatchingresidues; always <0). For amino acid sequences, a scoring matrix is usedto calculate the cumulative score. Extension of the word hits in eachdirection are halted when: the cumulative alignment score falls off bythe quantity X from its maximum achieved value; the cumulative scoregoes to zero or below, due to the accumulation of one or morenegative-scoring residue alignments; or the end of either sequence isreached. The BLAST algorithm parameters W, T, and X determine thesensitivity and speed of the alignment. The BLASTN program (fornucleotide sequences) uses as defaults a wordlength (W) of 11, anexpectation (E) of 10, M=5, N=−4, and a comparison of both strands. Foramino acid sequences, the BLASTP program uses as defaults a wordlength(W) of 3, an expectation (E) of 10, and the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (seeHenikoff and Henikoff, 1989, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:10915). Exemplarydetermination of sequence alignment and % sequence identity can employthe BESTFIT or GAP programs in the GCG Wisconsin Software package(Accelrys, Madison Wis.), using default parameters provided.

“Reference sequence” refers to a defined sequence used as a basis for asequence comparison. A reference sequence may be a subset of a largersequence, for example, a segment of a full-length gene or polypeptidesequence. Generally, a reference sequence is at least 20 nucleotide oramino acid residues in length, at least 25 residues in length, at least50 residues in length, or the full length of the nucleic acid orpolypeptide. Since two polynucleotides or polypeptides may each (1)comprise a sequence (i.e., a portion of the complete sequence) that issimilar between the two sequences, and (2) may further comprise asequence that is divergent between the two sequences, sequencecomparisons between two (or more) polynucleotides or polypeptide aretypically performed by comparing sequences of the two polynucleotides orpolypeptides over a “comparison window” to identify and compare localregions of sequence similarity. In some embodiments, a “referencesequence” can be based on a primary amino acid sequence, where thereference sequence is a sequence that can have one or more changes inthe primary sequence. For instance, a “reference sequence based on SEQID NO:2 having at the residue corresponding to X9 a histidine” refers toa reference sequence in which the corresponding residue at X9 in SEQ IDNO:2, which is a tyrosine, has been changed to histidine.

“Comparison window” refers to a conceptual segment of at least about 20contiguous nucleotide positions or amino acids residues wherein asequence may be compared to a reference sequence of at least 20contiguous nucleotides or amino acids and wherein the portion of thesequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions(i.e., gaps) of 20 percent or less as compared to the reference sequence(which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignmentof the two sequences. The comparison window can be longer than 20contiguous residues, and includes, optionally 30, 40, 50, 100, or longerwindows.

“Corresponding to”, “reference to” or “relative to” when used in thecontext of the numbering of a given amino acid or polynucleotidesequence refers to the numbering of the residues of a specifiedreference sequence when the given amino acid or polynucleotide sequenceis compared to the reference sequence. In other words, the residuenumber or residue position of a given polymer is designated with respectto the reference sequence rather than by the actual numerical positionof the residue within the given amino acid or polynucleotide sequence.For example, a given amino acid sequence, such as that of an engineeredtransaminase, can be aligned to a reference sequence by introducing gapsto optimize residue matches between the two sequences. In these cases,although the gaps are present, the numbering of the residue in the givenamino acid or polynucleotide sequence is made with respect to thereference sequence to which it has been aligned.

“Amino acid difference” or “residue difference” refers to a differencein the amino acid residue at a position of a polypeptide sequencerelative to the amino acid residue at a corresponding position in areference sequence. The positions of amino acid differences generallyare referred to herein as “Xn,” where n refers to the correspondingposition in the reference sequence upon which the residue difference isbased. For example, a “residue difference at position X12 as compared toSEQ ID NO:2” refers to a difference of the amino acid residue at thepolypeptide position corresponding to position 12 of SEQ ID NO:2. Thus,if the reference polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 has a tyrosine at position12, then a “residue difference at position X12 as compared to SEQ IDNO:2” an amino acid substitution of any residue other than tyrosine atthe position of the polypeptide corresponding to position 12 of SEQ IDNO:2. In most instances herein, the specific amino acid residuedifference at a position is indicated as “XnY” where “Xn” specified thecorresponding position as described above, and “Y” is the single letteridentifier of the amino acid found in the engineered polypeptide (i.e.,the different residue than in the reference polypeptide). In someinstances (e.g., in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C), the present disclosure alsoprovides specific amino acid differences denoted by the conventionalnotation “AnB”, where A is the single letter identifier of the residuein the reference sequence, “n” is the number of the residue position inthe reference sequence, and B is the single letter identifier of theresidue substitution in the sequence of the engineered polypeptide. Insome instances, a polypeptide of the present disclosure can include oneor more amino acid residue differences relative to a reference sequence,which is indicated by a list of the specified positions where residuedifferences are present relative to the reference sequence. In someembodiments, where more than one amino acid can be used in a specificresidue position of a polypeptide, the various amino acid residues thatcan be used are separated by a “/” (e.g., X192A/X192G). The presentdisclosure includes engineered polypeptide sequences comprising one ormore amino acid differences that include either/or both conservative andnon-conservative amino acid substitutions.

“Conservative amino acid substitution” refers to a substitution of aresidue with a different residue having a similar side chain, and thustypically involves substitution of the amino acid in the polypeptidewith amino acids within the same or similar defined class of aminoacids. By way of example and not limitation, an amino acid with analiphatic side chain may be substituted with another aliphatic aminoacid, e.g., alanine, valine, leucine, and isoleucine; an amino acid withhydroxyl side chain is substituted with another amino acid with ahydroxyl side chain, e.g., serine and threonine; an amino acids havingaromatic side chains is substituted with another amino acid having anaromatic side chain, e.g., phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, andhistidine; an amino acid with a basic side chain is substituted withanother amino acid with a basis side chain, e.g., lysine and arginine;an amino acid with an acidic side chain is substituted with anotheramino acid with an acidic side chain, e.g., aspartic acid or glutamicacid; and a hydrophobic or hydrophilic amino acid is replaced withanother hydrophobic or hydrophilic amino acid, respectively. Exemplaryconservative substitutions are provided in Table 1 below:

TABLE 1 Residue Possible Conservative Substitutions A, L, V, I Otheraliphatic (A, L, V, I) Other non-polar (A, L, V, I, G, M) G, M Othernon-polar (A, L, V, I, G, M) D, E Other acidic (D, E) K, R Other basic(K, R) N, Q, S, T Other polar H, Y, W, F Other aromatic (H, Y, W, F) C,P None

“Non-conservative substitution” refers to substitution of an amino acidin the polypeptide with an amino acid with significantly differing sidechain properties. Non-conservative substitutions may use amino acidsbetween, rather than within, the defined groups and affects (a) thestructure of the peptide backbone in the area of the substitution (e.g.,proline for glycine) (b) the charge or hydrophobicity, or (c) the bulkof the side chain. By way of example and not limitation, an exemplarynon-conservative substitution can be an acidic amino acid substitutedwith a basic or aliphatic amino acid; an aromatic amino acid substitutedwith a small amino acid; and a hydrophilic amino acid substituted with ahydrophobic amino acid.

“Deletion” refers to modification to the polypeptide by removal of oneor more amino acids from the reference polypeptide. Deletions cancomprise removal of 1 or more amino acids, 2 or more amino acids, 5 ormore amino acids, 10 or more amino acids, 15 or more amino acids, or 20or more amino acids, up to 10% of the total number of amino acids, or upto 20% of the total number of amino acids making up the reference enzymewhile retaining enzymatic activity and/or retaining the improvedproperties of an engineered transaminase enzyme. Deletions can bedirected to the internal portions and/or terminal portions of thepolypeptide. In various embodiments, the deletion can comprise acontinuous segment or can be discontinuous.

“Insertion” refers to modification to the polypeptide by addition of oneor more amino acids from the reference polypeptide. In some embodiments,the improved engineered transaminase enzymes comprise insertions of oneor more amino acids to the naturally occurring transaminase polypeptideas well as insertions of one or more amino acids to other improvedtransaminase polypeptides. Insertions can be in the internal portions ofthe polypeptide, or to the carboxy or amino terminus. Insertions as usedherein include fusion proteins as is known in the art. The insertion canbe a contiguous segment of amino acids or separated by one or more ofthe amino acids in the naturally occurring polypeptide.

“Fragment” as used herein refers to a polypeptide that has anamino-terminal and/or carboxy-terminal deletion, but where the remainingamino acid sequence is identical to the corresponding positions in thesequence. Fragments can be at least 14 amino acids long, at least 20amino acids long, at least 50 amino acids long or longer, and up to 70%,80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, and 99% of a full-length transaminase polypeptide.

“Isolated polypeptide” refers to a polypeptide which is substantiallyseparated from other contaminants that naturally accompany it, e.g.,protein, lipids, and polynucleotides. The term embraces polypeptideswhich have been removed or purified from their naturally-occurringenvironment or expression system (e.g., host cell or in vitrosynthesis). The improved transaminase enzymes may be present within acell, present in the cellular medium, or prepared in various forms, suchas lysates or isolated preparations. As such, in some embodiments, theimproved transaminase enzyme can be an isolated polypeptide.

“Substantially pure polypeptide” refers to a composition in which thepolypeptide species is the predominant species present (i.e., on a molaror weight basis it is more abundant than any other individualmacromolecular species in the composition), and is generally asubstantially purified composition when the object species comprises atleast about 50 percent of the macromolecular species present by mole or% weight. Generally, a substantially pure transaminase composition willcomprise about 60% or more, about 70% or more, about 80% or more, about90% or more, about 95% or more, and about 98% or more of allmacromolecular species by mole or % weight present in the composition.In some embodiments, the object species is purified to essentialhomogeneity (i.e., contaminant species cannot be detected in thecomposition by conventional detection methods) wherein the compositionconsists essentially of a single macromolecular species. Solventspecies, small molecules (<500 Daltons), and elemental ion species arenot considered macromolecular species. In some embodiments, the isolatedimproved transaminases polypeptide is a substantially pure polypeptidecomposition.

“Stereoselectivity” refers to the preferential formation in a chemicalor enzymatic reaction of one stereoisomer over another.Stereoselectivity can be partial, where the formation of onestereoisomer is favored over the other, or it may be complete where onlyone stereoisomer is formed. When the stereoisomers are enantiomers, thestereoselectivity is referred to as enantioselectivity, the fraction(typically reported as a percentage) of one enantiomer in the sum ofboth. It is commonly alternatively reported in the art (typically as apercentage) as the enantiomeric excess (e.e.) calculated therefromaccording to the formula [major enantiomer−minor enantiomer]/[majorenantiomer+minor enantiomer]. Where the stereoisomers arediastereoisomers, the stereoselectivity is referred to asdiastereoselectivity, the fraction (typically reported as a percentage)of one diastereomer in a mixture of two diastereomers, commonlyalternatively reported as the diastereomeric excess (d.e.). Where amixture contains more than two diastereomers it is common to report theratio of diastereomers or “diastereomeric ratio” rather thandiastereomeric excess. Enantiomeric excess and diastereomeric excess aretypes of stereomeric excess. “Highly stereoselective” refers to atransaminase polypeptide that is capable of converting the substrate tothe corresponding chiral amine product with at least about 85%stereomeric excess.

“Improved enzyme property” refers to a transaminase polypeptide thatexhibits an improvement in any enzyme property as compared to areference transaminase, such as the wild-type transaminase enzyme oranother improved engineered transaminase. Enzyme properties for whichimprovement is desirable include, but are not limited to, enzymaticactivity (which can be expressed in terms of percent conversion of thesubstrate), thermo stability, solvent stability, pH activity profile,cofactor requirements, refractoriness to inhibitors (e.g., substrate orproduct inhibition), stereospecificity, and stereoselectivity (includingenantioselectivity).

“Increased enzymatic activity” refers to an improved property of theengineered transaminase polypeptides, which can be represented by anincrease in specific activity (e.g., product produced/time/weightprotein) or an increase in percent conversion of the substrate to theproduct (e.g., percent conversion of starting amount of substrate toproduct in a specified time period using a specified amount oftransaminase) as compared to the reference transaminase enzyme.Exemplary methods to determine enzyme activity are provided in theExamples. Any property relating to enzyme activity may be affected,including the classical enzyme properties of K_(m), V_(max) or k_(cat),changes of which can lead to increased enzymatic activity. Improvementsin enzyme activity can be from about 1.1 fold the enzymatic activity ofthe corresponding wild-type transaminase enzyme, to as much as 2 fold, 5fold, 10 fold, 20 fold, 25 fold, 50 fold, 75 fold, 100 fold, or moreenzymatic activity than the naturally occurring transaminase or anotherengineered transaminase from which the transaminase polypeptides werederived. In specific embodiments, the engineered transaminase enzymeexhibits improved enzymatic activity in the range of 1.5 to 50 fold, 1.5to 100 fold or greater than that of the parent transaminase enzyme.Transaminase activity can be measured by any one of standard assays,such as by monitoring changes in spectrophotometric properties ofreactants or products. In some embodiments, the amount of productsproduced can be measured by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC) separation combined with UV absorbance or fluorescent detectionfollowing o-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) derivatization. Comparisons of enzymeactivities are made using a defined preparation of enzyme, a definedassay under a set condition, and one or more defined substrates, asfurther described in detail herein. Generally, when lysates arecompared, the numbers of cells and the amount of protein assayed aredetermined as well as use of identical expression systems and identicalhost cells to minimize variations in amount of enzyme produced by thehost cells and present in the lysates.

“Conversion” refers to the enzymatic conversion of the substrate(s) tothe corresponding product(s). “Percent conversion” refers to the percentof the substrate that is converted to the product within a period oftime under specified conditions. Thus, the “enzymatic activity” or“activity” of a transaminase polypeptide can be expressed as “percentconversion” of the substrate to the product.

“Thermostable” refers to a transaminase polypeptide that maintainssimilar activity (more than 60% to 80% for example) after exposure toelevated temperatures (e.g., 40-80° C.) for a period of time (e.g.,0.5-24 hrs) compared to the wild-type enzyme.

“Solvent stable” refers to a transaminase polypeptide that maintainssimilar activity (more than e.g., 60% to 80%) after exposure to varyingconcentrations (e.g., 5-99%) of solvent (ethanol, isopropyl alcohol,dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), tetrahydrofuran, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran,acetone, toluene, butyl acetate, methyl tert-butyl ether, etc.) for aperiod of time (e.g., 0.5-24 hrs) compared to the wild-type enzyme.

“Hybridization stringency” relates to hybridization conditions, such aswashing conditions, in the hybridization of nucleic acids. Generally,hybridization reactions are performed under conditions of lowerstringency, followed by washes of varying but higher stringency. Theterm “moderately stringent hybridization” refers to conditions thatpermit target-DNA to bind a complementary nucleic acid that has about60% identity, preferably about 75% identity, about 85% identity to thetarget DNA, with greater than about 90% identity totarget-polynucleotide. Exemplary moderately stringent conditions areconditions equivalent to hybridization in 50% formamide, 5× Denhart'ssolution, 5×SSPE, 0.2% SDS at 42° C., followed by washing in 0.2×SSPE,0.2% SDS, at 42° C. “High stringency hybridization” refers generally toconditions that are about 10° C. or less from the thermal meltingtemperature T_(m) as determined under the solution condition for adefined polynucleotide sequence. In some embodiments, a high stringencycondition refers to conditions that permit hybridization of only thosenucleic acid sequences that form stable hybrids in 0.018M NaCl at 65° C.(i.e., if a hybrid is not stable in 0.018M NaCl at 65° C., it will notbe stable under high stringency conditions, as contemplated herein).High stringency conditions can be provided, for example, byhybridization in conditions equivalent to 50% formamide, 5× Denhart'ssolution, 5×SSPE, 0.2% SDS at 42° C., followed by washing in 0.1×SSPE,and 0.1% SDS at 65° C. Another high stringency condition is hybridizingin conditions equivalent to hybridizing in 5×SSC containing 0.1% (w:v)SDS at 65° C. and washing in 0.1×SSC containing 0.1% SDS at 65° C. Otherhigh stringency hybridization conditions, as well as moderatelystringent conditions, are described in the references cited above.

“Codon optimized” refers to changes in the codons of the polynucleotideencoding a protein to those preferentially used in a particular organismsuch that the encoded protein is more efficiently expressed in theorganism of interest. Although the genetic code is degenerate in thatmost amino acids are represented by several codons, called “synonyms” or“synonymous” codons, it is well known that codon usage by particularorganisms is nonrandom and biased towards particular codon triplets.This codon usage bias may be higher in reference to a given gene, genesof common function or ancestral origin, highly expressed proteins versuslow copy number proteins, and the aggregate protein coding regions of anorganism's genome. In some embodiments, the polynucleotides encoding thetransaminases enzymes may be codon optimized for optimal production fromthe host organism selected for expression.

“Control sequence” refers herein to include all components, which arenecessary or advantageous for the expression of a polynucleotide and/orpolypeptide of the present disclosure. Each control sequence may benative or foreign to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide.Such control sequences include, but are not limited to, a leader,polyadenylation sequence, propeptide sequence, promoter, signal peptidesequence, and transcription terminator. At a minimum, the controlsequences include a promoter, and transcriptional and translational stopsignals. The control sequences may be provided with linkers for thepurpose of introducing specific restriction sites facilitating ligationof the control sequences with the coding region of the nucleic acidsequence encoding a polypeptide.

“Operably linked” is defined herein as a configuration in which acontrol sequence is appropriately placed (i.e., in a functionalrelationship) at a position relative to a polynucleotide of interestsuch that the control sequence directs or regulates the expression ofthe polynucleotide and/or polypeptide of interest.

“Promoter sequence” refers to a nucleic acid sequence that is recognizedby a host cell for expression of a polynucleotide of interest, such as acoding sequence. The promoter sequence contains transcriptional controlsequences, which mediate the expression of a polynucleotide of interest.The promoter may be any nucleic acid sequence which showstranscriptional activity in the host cell of choice including mutant,truncated, and hybrid promoters, and may be obtained from genes encodingextracellular or intracellular polypeptides either homologous orheterologous to the host cell.

“Alkyl” refers to groups of from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, either straightchained or branched, particularly from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and moreparticularly 1 to 6 carbon atoms. An alkyl with a specified number ofcarbon atoms is denoted in parenthesis, e.g., (C1-C4)alkyl refers to analkyl of 1 to 4 carbon atoms.

“Alkenyl” refers to groups of from 2 to 12 carbon atoms, either straightor branched containing at least one double bond but optionallycontaining more than one double bond.

“Alkynyl” refers to groups of from 2 to 12 carbon atoms, either straightor branched containing at least one triple bond but optionallycontaining more than one triple bond, and optionally containing one ormore double bonded moieties.

“Aryl” refers to an unsaturated aromatic carbocyclic group of from 5 to14 carbon atoms having a single ring (e.g., phenyl) or multiplecondensed rings (e.g., naphthyl or anthryl). For multiple condensedrings, at least one of the rings is aromatic. Representative arylsinclude phenyl, pyridyl, naphthyl and the like.

“Arylalkyl” refers to an alkyl substituted with an aryl moiety.Representative arylalkyl groups include benzyl, phenethyl and the like.

“Arylalkenyl” refers to an alkenyl as defined herein substituted with anaryl group.

“Arylalkynyl” refers to an alkynyl as defined herein substituted with anaryl group.

“Heteroaryl” refers to an aromatic heterocyclic group of 5 to 14 ringatoms containing 1 to 4 ring heteroatoms selected from oxygen, nitrogenand sulfur within the ring. Heteroaryl groups can have a single ring(e.g., pyridyl or furyl) or multiple condensed rings (e.g., indolizinylor benzothienyl). For multiple condensed rings, at least one of therings is aromatic.

“Heteroarylalkyl” refers to an alkyl substituted with a heteroarylmoiety as defined herein.

“Heteroarylalkenyl” refers to an alkenyl substituted with a heteroarylgroup as defined herein.

“Heteroarylalkynyl” refers to an alkynyl substituted with a heteroarylmoiety as defined herein.

“Cycloalkyl” refers to cyclic alkyl groups of from 3 to 12 carbon atomshaving a single cyclic ring or multiple condensed rings. Representativecycloalkyl groups include, by way of example, single ring structuressuch as cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl, cyclopentyl, cyclooctyl,1-methylcyclopropyl, 2-methylcyclopentyl, 2-methylcyclooctyl, and thelike, or multiple ring structures, including bridged ring systems, suchas adamantyl, and the like.

“Heterocycle” and interchangeably “heterocycloalkyl” refer to asaturated or unsaturated group having a single ring or multiplecondensed rings, from 3 to 14 ring atoms having from 1 to 4 hetero atomsselected from nitrogen, sulfur or oxygen within the ring. Heterocyclicgroups can have a single ring (e.g., piperidinyl or tetrahydrofuryl) ormultiple condensed rings (e.g., indolinyl, dihydrobenzofuran orquinuclidinyl). Representative heterocycles and heteroaryls include, butare not limited to, furan, thiophene, thiazole, oxazole, pyrrole,imidazole, pyrazole, pyridine, pyrazine, pyrimidine, pyridazine,indolizine, isoindole, indole, indazole, purine, quinolizine,isoquinoline, quinoline, phthalazine, naphthylpyridine, quinoxaline,quinazoline, cinnoline, pteridine, carbazole, carboline, phenanthridine,acridine, phenanthroline, isothiazole, phenazine, isoxazole,phenoxazine, phenothiazine, imidazolidine, imidazoline, piperidine,piperazine, pyrrolidine, indoline and the like.

“Cycloalkylalkyl” refers to an alkyl substituted with a cycloalkylmoiety as defined herein.

“Cycloalkylalkenyl” refers to an alkenyl substituted with a cycloalkylmoiety as defined herein.

“Cycloalkylalkynyl” refers to an alkynyl substituted with a cycloalkylmoiety as defined herein.

“Heterocycloalkylalkyl” refers to an alkyl substituted with aheterocycloalkyl moiety as defined herein.

“Heterocycoalkenyl” refers to an alkenyl substituted with aheterocycloalkyl moiety as defined herein.

“Heterocycloalkylalkynyl” refers to an alkynyl substituted with aheterocycloalkyl moiety as defined herein.

“Alkoxy” or “Alkyloxy” refers to the group alkyl-O— wherein the alkylgroup is as defined above, including optionally substituted alkyl groupsas also defined above.

“Amino” refers to the group —NH₂. Substituted amino refers to the group—NHR′, NR′R′, and NR′R′R′, where each R′ is independently of the othersselected from substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, cycloalkyl,heterocycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, heterocycloalkylalkyl, alkyloxy,aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl, acyl, alkyloxycarbonyl,sulfanyl, sulfinyl, sulfonyl, and the like. Typical amino groupsinclude, but are limited to, dimethylamino, diethylamino,trimethylammonium, triethylammonium, methylysulfonylamino,furanyl-oxy-sulfamino, and the like.

“Carboxy” refers to —COOH.

“Carbonyl” refers to —C(O)—, which may have a variety of substituents toform different carbonyl groups including acids, acid halides, aldehydes,amides, esters, and ketones.

“Hydroxy” refers to —OH.

“Cyano” refers to —CN.

“Halogen” or “halo” refers to fluoro, chloro, bromo and iodo.

“Sulfonyl” refers to —SO₂—. Substituted sulfonyl refers to —SO₂R′, whereR′ is a suitable substituent as described below.

“Fused” or “fused rings” such as in fused aryl or fused heteroarylrefers to two or more rings joined such that they have at least two ringatoms in common. Fused aryl refers to fused rings in which at least oneof the rings is an aryl. Fused heteroaryl refers to fused rings in whichat least one of the rings is a heteroaryl.

“Substituted” unless otherwise specified, refers to replacement ofpositions occupied by hydrogen in the foregoing groups with substituentsexemplified by, but not limited to, hydroxy, oxo, nitro, methoxy,ethoxy, alkyloxy, substituted alkyloxy, trifluoromethoxy, haloalkyloxy,fluoro, chloro, bromo, iodo, halo, methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, alkyl,alkenyl, alkynyl, substituted alkyl, trifluoromethyl, haloalkyl,hydroxyalkyl, alkyloxyalkyl, thio, alkylthio, acyl, carboxy,alkyloxycarbonyl, carboxamido, substituted carboxamido, alkylsulfonyl,alkylsulfinyl, alkylsulfonylamino, sulfonamido, substituted sulfonamido,cyano, amino, substituted amino, alkylamino, dialkylamino, aminoalkyl,acylamino, amidino, amidoximo, hydroxamoyl, phenyl, aryl, substitutedaryl, aryloxy, arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, pyridyl, imidazolyl,heteroaryl, substituted heteroaryl, heteroaryloxy, heteroarylalkyl,heteroarylalkenyl, heteroarylalkynyl, cyclopropyl, cyclobutyl,cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloalkylalkyl,substituted cycloalkyl, cycloalkyloxy, pyrrolidinyl, piperidinyl,morpholino, heterocycle, (heterocycle)oxy, and (heterocycle)alkyl; andpreferred heteroatoms are oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. It is understoodthat where open valences exist on these substituents they can be furthersubstituted with alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, and/or heterocyclegroups, that where these open valences exist on carbon they can befurther substituted by halogen and by oxygen-, nitrogen-, orsulfur-bonded substituents, and where multiple such open valences exist,these groups can be joined to form a ring, either by direct formation ofa bond or by formation of bonds to a new heteroatom, preferably oxygen,nitrogen, or sulfur. It is further understood that the abovesubstitutions can be made provided that replacing the hydrogen with thesubstituent does not introduce unacceptable instability to the moleculesof the present invention, and is otherwise chemically reasonable.

“Optional” or “optionally” means that the subsequently described eventor circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includesinstances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances in whichit does not. One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that withrespect to any molecule described as containing one or more optionalsubstituents, only sterically practical and/or synthetically feasiblecompounds are meant to be included. “Optionally substituted” refers toall subsequent modifiers in a term or series of chemical groups. Forexample, in the term “optionally substituted arylalkyl, the “alkyl”portion and the “aryl” portion of the molecule may or may not besubstituted, and for the series “optionally substituted alkyl,cycloalkyl, aryl and heteroaryl,” the alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, andheteroaryl groups, independently of the others, may or may not besubstituted.

“Protecting group” refers to a group of atoms that mask, reduce orprevent the reactivity of the functional group when attached to areactive functional group in a molecule. Typically, a protecting groupmay be selectively removed as desired during the course of a synthesis.Examples of protecting groups can be found in Wuts and Greene, “Greene'sProtective Groups in Organic Synthesis,” 4^(th) Ed., Wiley Interscience(2006), and Harrison et al., Compendium of Synthetic Organic Methods,Vols. 1-8, 1971-1996, John Wiley & Sons, NY. Functional groups that canhave a protecting group include, but are not limited to, hydroxy, amino,and carboxy groups. Representative amino protecting groups include, butare not limited to, formyl, acetyl, trifluoroacetyl, benzyl,benzyloxycarbonyl (“CBZ”), tert-butoxycarbonyl (“Boc”), trimethylsilyl(“TMS”), 2-trimethylsilyl-ethanesulfonyl (“SES”), trityl and substitutedtrityl groups, allyloxycarbonyl, 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (“FMOC”),nitro- veratryloxycarbonyl (“NVOC”) and the like. Representativehydroxyl protecting groups include, but are not limited to, those wherethe hydroxyl group is either acylated (e.g., methyl and ethyl esters,acetate or propionate groups or glycol esters) or alkylated such asbenzyl and trityl ethers, as well as alkyl ethers, tetrahydropyranylethers, trialkylsilyl ethers (e.g., TMS or TIPPS groups) and allylethers. Other protecting groups can be found in the references notedherein.

“Leaving group” generally refers to any atom or moiety that is capableof being displaced by another atom or moiety in a chemical reaction.More specifically, a leaving group refers to an atom or moiety that isreadily displaced and substituted by a nucleophile (e.g., an amine, athiol, an alcohol, or cyanide). Such leaving groups are well known andinclude carboxylates, N-hydroxysuccinimide (“NHS”),N-hydroxybenzotriazole, a halogen (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, oriodine), and alkyloxy groups. Non-limiting characteristics and examplesof leaving groups can be found, for example in Organic Chemistry, 2ded., Francis Carey (1992), pages 328-331; Introduction to OrganicChemistry, 2d ed., Andrew Streitwieser and Clayton Heathcock (1981),pages 169-171; and Organic Chemistry, 5th Ed., John McMurry, Brooks/ColePublishing (2000), pages 398 and 408; all of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

“Suitable reaction conditions” refers to those conditions in thebiocatalytic reaction solution (e.g., ranges of enzyme loading,substrate loading, cofactor loading, temperature, pH, buffers,co-solvents, etc.) under which a transaminase polypeptide of the presentdisclosure capable of converting a substrate to the desired aminoproduct compound, e.g., converting compound (2) to compound (1).Exemplary “suitable reaction conditions” are provided in the presentdisclosure and illustrated by the Examples.

“Loading”, such as in “compound loading” or “enzyme loading” refers tothe concentration or amount of a component in a reaction mixture at thestart of the reaction.

“Substrate” in the context of a biocatalyst mediated process refers tothe compound or molecule acted on by the biocatalyst. For example, anexemplary substrate for the transaminase biocatalyst in the processesdisclosed herein is compound (2), whose preparation is described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,326,708 B2, issued Feb. 5, 2008.

“Product” in the context of a biocatalyst mediated process refers to thecompound or molecule resulting from the action of the biocatalyst. Forexample, an exemplary product for the transaminase biocatalyst in theprocesses disclosed herein is compound (1).

5.3 Engineered Polypeptides Having Transaminase Activity

The present disclosure provides engineered polypeptides havingtransaminase activity (also referred to herein as “engineeredtransaminase polypeptides”) useful for the selective transamination ofamino acceptor substrate compounds of structural Formula (II) (seeScheme 3) to produce chiral amine products of structural Formula (I),which, in some embodiments, can include compound (1), the activepharmaceutical ingredient, sitagliptin. Accordingly, in one aspect, thepresent disclosure relates to engineered polypeptides havingtransaminase activity which are capable of converting substrate compound(2) to product compound (1) as shown in Scheme 2. Further, the presentdisclosure provides polynucleotides encoding the engineeredpolypeptides, associated vectors and host cells comprising thepolynucleotides, methods for making the engineered polypeptides, andmethods for using the engineered polypeptides, including suitablereaction conditions.

The engineered polypeptides of the disclosure are non-naturallyoccurring transaminases engineered to have improved enzyme properties(such as increased stereoselectivity) as compared to the wild-typetransaminase polypeptide of Arthrobacter sp. KNK168 (GenBank Acc. No.BAK39753.1, GI:336088341), and also as compared to the referenceengineered transaminase polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2, which was used asthe starting backbone sequence for the directed evolution of theengineered polypeptides of the present disclosure. The referenceengineered transaminase polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 has the following 28amino acid differences relative to the wild-type transaminase ofArthrobacter sp. KNK168: S8P, Y60F, L61Y, H62T, V65A, V69T, D81G, M94I,I96L, F122M, S124T, S126T, G136F, Y150S, V152C, A169L, V199I, A209L,G215C, G217N, S223P, L269P, L273Y, T282S, A284G, P297S, I306V, andS321P.

The engineered transaminase polypeptides of the present disclosure weregenerated by directed evolution of SEQ ID NO:2 for efficient conversionof compound (2) to compound (1) under certain industrially relevantconditions and have one or more residue differences as compared to thereference engineered transaminase polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2. Theseresidue differences are associated with improvements in various enzymeproperties, particularly increased activity, increasedstereoselectivity, increased stability, and tolerance of increasedsubstrate and/or product concentration (e.g., decreased productinhibition). Accordingly, in some embodiments, the engineeredpolypeptides having transaminase activity are capable of converting thesubstrate compound (2) to compound (1) with an activity that isincreased at least about 1.2 fold, 1.5 fold, 2 fold, 3 fold, 4 fold, 5fold, 10 fold, 20 fold, 30 fold, 40 fold, 50 fold, 100 fold, 200 fold,500 fold, 1000 fold or more relative to the activity of the referencepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 under suitable reaction conditions. In someembodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminase activityare capable of converting the substrate of compound (2) to compound (1)with a percent conversion of at least about 40%, at least about 50%, atleast about 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, or at leastabout 90%, at least about 95%, at least about 98%, at least about 99%,in a reaction time of about 48 h, about 36 h, about 24 h, or even ashorter length of time, under suitable reaction conditions. In someembodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminase activityare capable of converting compound (2) to compound (1) in enantiomericexcess of at least 90%, 95%, 97%, 98%, 99%, or greater, under suitablereaction conditions.

The present disclosure provides numerous exemplary engineeredtransaminase polypeptides comprising amino acid sequences of theeven-numbered sequence identifiers SEQ ID NO:4-306. These exemplaryengineered transaminase polypeptides comprise amino acid sequences thatinclude one or more of the following residue differences associated withtheir improved properties for conversion of compound (2) to compound (1)as compared to SEQ ID NO:2: (a) X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G,X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R,X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R, X270T, X273H, X325M; and X241R; and/or (b) acombination of residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selectedfrom: X42G, X54P, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T, and R164P;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T,and X267V; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, and C215G; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V; X33L; X42G, X54P, X117G;X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; and X41K, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X109S, X150F, X152S,X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q,and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H;X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P,X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X42G,X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X68A,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X69S, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q,X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I,X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, X171I,X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X192F, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X224I; X42G, X54P,X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P,X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X136Y,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X284I; andX42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, and X215G.

In some cases, the exemplary engineered polypeptides have an amino acidsequence that further comprises one or more residue differences ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R,X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G,X122F/Q, X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S,X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T,X273H, X325M, and X328I. C215G. In some cases, the exemplary engineeredpolypeptides have an amino acid sequence that further comprises one ormore residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: G36C,I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M, I41N, I41R, E42G, P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T,A51K, S54P, M122F, M122Q, Y148Q, C152T, Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T,Q155V, C215H, C215L, Y273H, L325M, and A241R; or (b) a combination ofresidue differences selected from: A5K, E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T,and W156Q; P33L, I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, andC215G; P33L, I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L;P33L, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G,S54P, A109S, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R;G36C, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I. and C215H; G36C, E42G,P48K, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R;G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155V, and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155K; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155T, W156Q, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and F160P; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L;I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, F160P, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,and C215L; I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, andC215G; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, and C215G;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q,V171I, C215G, and A241R;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G,P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L, and I267V; I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andC215G; I41N, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and F160P; I41N, E42G,S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N, S49T, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A, A44Q, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V;E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S49T,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S, Q155T,L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G,S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, N76S,T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q, and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P,M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q,S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q,S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, T126M,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V,and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, andC215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andI267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G,and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155I,and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M,and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155V, and W156S.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity are capable of converting compound (2) to compound (1) withincreased tolerance for the presence of the substrate relative to thesubstrate tolerance of the reference polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 undersuitable reaction conditions. Accordingly, in some embodiments theengineered polypeptides are capable of converting the substrate ofcompound (2) to compound (1) in the presence of a substrate loadingconcentration of at least about 1 g/L, 5 g/L, 10 g/L, 20 g/L, about 30g/L, about 40 g/L, about 50 g/L, about 70 g/L, about 100 g/L, with apercent conversion of at least about 40%, at least about 50%, at leastabout 60%, at least about 70%, at least about 80%, at least about 90%,at least about 95%, at least about 98%, or at least about 99%, in areaction time of about 72 h, about 48 h, about 36 h, about 24 h, or evenshorter length of time, under suitable reaction conditions.

The suitable reaction conditions under which the above-describedimproved properties of the engineered polypeptides can be determinedwith respect concentrations or amounts of polypeptide, substrate, aminedonor, cofactor, buffer, co-solvent, pH, and/or conditions includingtemperature and reaction time. In some embodiments, the suitablereaction conditions comprise the HTP, SFP, or DSP assay conditionsdescribed below and in the Examples.

Structure and function information for exemplary non-naturallyoccurring, engineered transaminase polypeptides of the presentdisclosure are shown below in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C. The odd numberedsequence identifiers (i.e., SEQ ID NO) refer to the nucleotide (nt)sequence encoding the amino acid (aa) sequence provided by the evennumbered SEQ ID NOs, and the sequences are provided in the electronicsequence listing file accompanying this disclosure, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein. The amino acid residue differences arebased on comparison to the reference polypeptide sequence of SEQ IDNO:2, the gene sequence of which was used as the starting point for thedirected evolution of engineered polypeptides having increased activityin converting compound (2) to compound (1) under certain industriallyuseful reaction conditions. The activity of each engineered polypeptidewas determined using a high-throughput (HTP) assay (as a primaryscreen), and, in some cases, a secondary shake-flask powder (SFP) and/ordownstream processed (DSP) powder assay. The HTP assay values providedin Table 2A were determined using E. coli clear cell lysates in 96well-plate format following assay reaction conditions as noted in theTable. The SFP and DSP enzyme preparations provide a more purifiedpowder preparation of the engineered polypeptides. The SFP assay valuesin Table 2B were determined using SFP of the engineered polypeptides ina 5 mL vial format using reaction conditions noted in the Table. The DSPassay values in Table 2C were determined using DSP powders of theengineered polypeptides in a 5 mL vial format using reaction conditionsnoted in the Table. Further details of the HTP, SFP, and DSPpreparations and assays are described in the Examples.

TABLE 2A HTP Activity SEQ ID NO: Amino Acid Differences Activity Fold-Assay Reaction (nt/aa) (compared to SEQ ID NO: 2) Improvement¹Conditions² 1/2 None 1 A 3/4 A241R 1.5 A 5/6 A241R; L325M 1.4 A 7/8 G36C1.4 A  9/10 P48D 1.5 A 11/12 P48T 1.2 A 13/14 I41R 1.5 A 15/16 I41K;L325M 1.9 A 17/18 E42G 1.3 A 19/20 A51K 2.7 A 21/22 P48G 1.3 A 23/24P48E 1.6 A 25/26 I41F 1.5 A 27/28 I41R; L325M 1.6 A 29/30 P48K 1.5 A31/32 S54P 1.4 A 33/34 I41M 1.3 A 35/36 I41N 1.6 A 37/38 I41C 1.9 A39/40 M122Q 2.3 A 41/42 M122F 1.7 A 43/44 Q155I 1.3 A 45/46 Y148Q 1.4 A47/48 Q155V 1.7 A 49/50 Q155K 1.7 A 51/52 Q155T 2.0 A 53/54 Q155A 1.6 A55/56 C152T 1.6 A 57/58 C215L; Y273H 1.2 A 59/60 C215H 1.4 A 61/62 E42G;S54P; C152S; Q155T 4.0 A 63/64 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155T; R164P 5.6 A65/66 E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T 5.6 B 67/68 E42G; A44Q;S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T 6.4 B 69/70 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S;Q155T; I267V 7.6 B 71/72 E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T; I267V4.4 B 73/74 E42G; A44Q; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T; I267V 6.0 B75/76 E42G; A44Q; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T 6.8 B 77/78 E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155T 7.6 B 79/80 E42A; A44Q; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S;Q155T; I267V 6.4 B 81/82 E42G; S54P; S150A; C152S; Q155T; I267V 2.4 B83/84 E42G; A44Q; S54P; S150A; C152S; Q155T 3.6 B 85/86 E42G; S54P;N76S; T126A; C152S; Q155T; S182T; 5.2 B L218M A270T; V328I 87/88 E42G;S54P; I55L; T126A; C152S; Q155T; L218M; A270T 6.0 B 89/90 E42G; S54P;C152S; Q155T; S182T; L218M; A270T 3.2 B 91/92 A5K; E42G; S49T; S54P;C152S; Q155T; W156Q 4.8 B 93/94 E42G; S54P; E117G; C152S; Q155T; W156Q5.6 B 95/96 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155T; W156Q 7.6 B 97/98 E42G; S54P;E117G; C152S; Q155T 4.8 B  99/100 E42G; S49T; S54P; C152S; Q155T; W156Q6.8 B 101/102 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155T; W156S 9.2 B 103/104 E42G; S54P;C152S; Q155T; C215L 6.0 B 105/106 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155T; C215G 6.4 B107/108 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155I; W156S 13.2 B 109/110 E42G; S54P;C152S; Q155V; W156S 9.6 B 111/112 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155L; W156S 14.8 B113/114 E42G; S54P; C152S; Q155K; W156S 13.6 B 115/116 E42G; S54P;C152S; Q155T; F160P 6.8 B 117/118 I41K; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T;C215G 14.4 B 119/120 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I; C215G 12.8 B121/122 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; C215G; I267V 14.8 B 123/124I41K; E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T; C215G 12.4 B 125/126 I41C;E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155K; 18.4 B W156Q; C215G; I267V127/128 E42G; S49T; S54P; I108V; E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155L; 4.0 BF160P; C215L 129/130 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 5.6 B131/132 I41C; E42G; S49T; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; 6.4 B C215G;I267V 133/134 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; W156Q; C215L 7.6 B135/136 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; I267V 4.4 B 137/138I41N; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I; F160P 6.0 B 139/140 I41K; E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; F160P; C215G; 6.8 B I267V 141/142 I41N; S49T;E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q15SL; F160P; 7.6 B D165N; C215L 143/144 I41C;E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; C215G 6.4 B 145/146 I41K; E42G; P48E;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q 2.4 B 147/148 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155T; W156Q; F160P; 3.6 B C215L 149/150 I41C; E42G; S54P; E117G;S150F; C152S; Q155K; F160P 5.2 B 151/152 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S;Q155I; W156Q; F160P; 6.0 B C215L; I267V 153/154 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155K; C215L 3.2 B 155/156 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T;W156Q; C215G; 4.8 B I267V 157/158 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T;F160P; C215L 5.6 B 159/160 P33L; E42G; S54P; E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155I;7.6 B W156Q; C215G 161/162 I41K; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; C215L4.8 B 163/164 E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T 6.8 B 165/166 I41C;E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155T; W156Q; 9.2 B C215G 167/168 E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; F160P; C215G 6.0 B 169/170 I41C; E42G; S54P;E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155L; C215L 6.4 B 171/172 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155K; W156Q; 13.2 B C215G; I267V 173/174 I41C; E42G; S49T; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155I; F160P; 9.6 B C215G; I267V 175/176 I41C; E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155L; F160P; C215G; 14.8 B I267V 177/178 I41K; E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; 13.6 B C215G 179/180 I41K; E42G; P48E;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; C215L; 6.8 B 181/182 P33L; I41K; E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155I; F160P; 14.4 B C215L 183/184 I41K; E42G; S54P;E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155L; C215G 12.8 B 185/186 I41N; E42G; S54P;E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155T; W156Q 14.8 B 187/188 E42G; S54P; I108V;S150F; C152S; Q155V; W156Q; 12.4 B F160P 189/190 E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155T; W156Q; F160P; 18.4 B C215L; I267V 191/192 P33L; I41C;E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; F160P; 4.0 B C215G 193/194 E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155I; F160P; C215G 5.6 B 195/196 I41C; E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155I; C215L 6.4 B 197/198 E42G; S49T; S54P; I108V; E117G; S150F;C152S; Q155K; 7.6 B W156Q; C215G 199/200 I41C; E42G; S54P; E117G; S150F;C152S; Q155K; C215L 4.4 B 201/202 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I;W156Q; C215L 6.0 B 203/204 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; W156R 6.8 B205/206 I41K; E42G; S54P; I108V; E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155K; 7.6 B C215L207/208 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q 6.4 B 209/210 I41K; E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; F160P 2.4 B 211/212 I41K; E42G; S54P; E117G;S150F; C152S; Q155K; C215L; 3.6 B I267V 213/214 I41K; E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155T 5.2 B 215/216 I41K; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; C215G;I267V 6.0 B 217/218 I41C; E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155K 3.2 B219/220 E42G; S49T; S54P; I108V; E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155T; 4.8 BW156Q; F160P; C215G; I267V 221/222 P33L; E42G; P48G; S54P; S150F; C152S;Q155T; C215H 5.6 B 223/224 G36C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; C215H;7.6 B A241R 225/226 G36C; E42G; P48K; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; C215H4.8 B 227/228 G36C; E42G; P48G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I; C215H 6.8 B229/230 E42G; S54P; I108V; S150F; C152S; Q155K; C215H 9.2 B 231/232E42G; P48G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T 6.0 B 233/234 E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155L; C215H 6.4 B 235/236 G36C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I;C215H; A241R 13.2 B 237/238 G36C; E42G; P48K; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I;C215H 9.6 B 239/240 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I; C215H 14.8 B241/242 G36C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; A241R 13.6 B 243/244G36C; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155V; C215H 6.8 B 245/246 P33L; E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; C215H 1.513 C 247/248 E42G; P48G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215H 1.469 C 249/250 P33L; E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215H 1.481 C 251/252 P33L; E42G;S54P; A109S; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; 1.429 C C215H 253/254 P33L;E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215H; 1.47 C A241R 255/256I41F; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.295 C 257/258I41F; E42G; S54P; M122Q; S150F; C152T; Q155V; W156Q; 1.213 C C215G259/260 E42G; S54P; M122Q; S150F; C152T; Q155V; W156Q; V171I; 1.667 CC215G; A241R 261/262 I41F; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155I; W156Q;V171I; 1.333 C C215G 263/264 I41F; E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L;W156Q; V171I; 1.245 C C215G; A241R 265/266 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S;Q155I; W156Q; V171I; C215G; 1.307 C A241R 267/268 I41F; E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155I; W156Q; C215G 1.28 C 269/270 P33L; E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155I; W156Q; C215G 1.22 C 271/272 I41F; E42G; S54P;S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; V171I; 1.545 C C215G 273/274 E42G; S54P;M122Q; S150F; C152S; Q155I; W156Q; C215G; 1.605 C A241R 275/276 E42G;S54P; M122Q; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; V171I; 1.248 C C215G; A241R277/278 E42G; S54P; T69S; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.57 C279/280 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G; T283S 1.573 C281/282 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G; S282V; 1.507 CG284I 283/284 E42G; S54P; F136Y; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G;1.337 C S282V; G284P 285/286 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Y;C215G 1.5 C 287/288 E42G; S54P; F136I; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Y;C215G; 1.367 C S282V; G284I 289/290 E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L;W156Q; C215G; G284I 1.496 C 291/292 E42G; S54P; F136I; S150F; C152S;Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.636 C 293/294 E42G; S54P; F136I; S150F; C152S;Q155L; W156Q; C215G; 1.391 C G224I 295/296 E42G; S54P; F136I; S150F;C152S; Q155L; W156Y; C215G; 1.366 C G284P 297/298 E42G; S54P; P135I;F136Y; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; 1.438 C W192F; C215G 299/300 E42G;S54P; T126M; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.389 C 301/302 E42G;S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; G193M; C215G 1.54 C 303/304 E42G;S54P; T68A; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.473 C 305/306 E42G;S54P; F60V; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G 1.405 C ¹ActivityFold-Improvement was calculated as the percent conversion of thesubstrate of compound (2) to the product compound (1) by the specifiedengineered polypeptide under the activity assay reaction conditions(noted below and in Examples) per the percent conversion of the samesubstrate to product under the same reaction conditions by theengineered polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2. Percent conversion of substratecompound (2) to product (1) was determined by HPLC analysis of thequenched assay samples prepared as noted below and in Example 1. Percentconversion was quantified by dividing areas of HPLC product peaks by thesum of the areas of the product and substrate peaks. ²Activity AssayReaction Conditions: Conditions A Lysis: Cells were lysed by shaking for2 h at 250 rpm and room temperature in 200 uL of lysis buffer containing0.1M TEA, 1 g/L lysozyme, and 0.5 g/L polymyxin B sulfate, and 0.25 mMPLP, at pH 8.5. Enzymatic reaction: 40 μL clear cell lysate added to 140μL volume of stock premix of 1.4 mM PLP (in sterile water), 2.1Misopropylamine (IPM), in 57% (v/v) DMSO, at pH 11; then reaction startedby addition of 20 μL of 500 g/L substrate compound (2) in 100% DMSO.Final assay concentration: 50 g/L substrate compound (2), 1.5M IPM, 1 mMPLP, and 50% DMSO, at pH 11. Reaction plate was heat-sealed and shakenat 200 rpm at 55° C. for 18 h. Reaction was quenched by addition of 1 mLacetonitrile and shaking for 5 minutes, followed by centrifuge of platefor 10 min at 4000 x g at 18° C. Conditions B Lysis: Cells were lysed byshaking for 2 h at 250 rpm and room temperature in 200 uL of lysisbuffer containing 0.1M TEA, 1 g/L lysozyme, and 0.5 g/L polymyxin Bsulfate, and 0.25 mM PLP, at pH 8.5. Enzymatic reaction: 20 μL clearcell lysate added to 160 μL volume of stock premix of 1.25 mM PLP (insterile water), 2.5M isopropylamine (IPM), in 57% (v/v) DMSO, at pH11.5; then reaction started by addition of 20 μL of 500 g/L substratecompound (2) in 100% DMSO. Final assay concentration: 50 g/L substratecompound (2), 2M IPM, 1 mM PLP, and 50% DMSO, at pH 11.5. Reaction platewas heat-sealed and shaken at 200 rpm at 55° C. for 18 h. Reaction wasquenched by addition of 1 mL acetonitrile and shaking for 5 minutes,followed by centrifuge of plate for 10 min at 4000 x g at 18° C.Conditions C Lysis: Cells were lysed by shaking for 2 h at 250 rpm androom temperature in 200 uL of lysis buffer containing 0.1M TEA, 1 g/Llysozyme, and 0.5 g/L polymyxin B sulfate, and 0.25 mM PLP, at pH 8.5.Enzymatic reaction: 10 μL clear cell lysate added to 180 μL volume ofstock premix of 1.33 mM PLP (in sterile water), 2.2M isopropylamine(IPM), in 55.5% (v/v) DMSO, at pH 11.5; then reaction started byaddition of 10 μL of 1000 g/L substrate compound (2) in 100% DMSO. Finalassay concentration: 50 g/L substrate compound (2), 2M IPM, 1.2 mM PLP,and 50% DMSO, at pH 11.5. Reaction plate was heat-sealed and shaken at200 rpm at 55° C. for 4 h. Reaction was quenched by addition of 1 mLacetonitrile and shaking for 5 minutes, followed by centrifuge of platefor 10 min at 4000 x g at 18° C.

TABLE 2B SFP Activity and Stability Amino Acid Differences SEQ ID(compared NO: to SEQ ID % Conv.¹ % Conv.² % Conv.³ % Conv.⁴ % e.e.²(nt/aa) NO: 2) (50° C.) (55° C.) (60° C.) (55° C., 2 h) (55° C.) 1/2None n.d. 4.8 n.d. n.d. 99.9 39/40 M122Q; n.d. 11.5 n.d. n.d. 99.9 61/62E42G; n.d. 11.8 n.d. n.d. 99.9 S54P; C152S; Q155T; 69/70 E42G; n.d. 15.8n.d. n.d. 99.9 S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; I267V; 77/78 E42G; 74.6 27.818.6 n.d. 99.9 S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; 121/122 E42G; 72.6 53.6 48.6n.d. n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155T; C215G; I267V; 129/130 E42G; 72.564.4 62.7 8.6 n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G; 159/160P33L; 60.2 76.5 63.5 n.d. n.d. E42G; S54P; E117G; S150F; C152S; Q155I;W156Q; C215G; 177/178 I41K; 66.1 54.4 46.1 n.d. n.d. E42G; S54P; S150F;C152S; Q155K; W156Q; C215G; 191/192 P33L; I41C; 79.1 6.4  0.1 n.d. n.d.E42G; S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; F160P; C215G; 245/246 P33L; E42G; n.d.n.d. n.d. 14.29 n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155K; W156Q; C215H; 247/248E42G; P48G; n.d. n.d. n.d. 13.20 n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q;C215H; 249/250 P33L; E42G; n.d. n.d. n.d. 14.61 n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S;Q155L; W156Q; C215H; 259/260 E42G; S54P; n.d. n.d. n.d. 11.40 n.d.M122Q; S150F; C152T; Q155V; W156Q; V171I; C215G; A241R; 271/272 I41F;E42G; n.d. n.d. n.d. 12.54 n.d. S54P; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; V171I;C215G; 273/274 E42G; S54P; n.d. n.d. n.d. 11.85 n.d. M122Q; S150F;C152S; Q155I; W156Q; C215G; A241R; 291/292 E42G; S54P; n.d. n.d. n.d.10.42 n.d. F136I; S150F; C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G; “n.d.” = notdetermined Percent conversion of substrate compound (2) to product (1)was determined by HPLC analysis of the quenched assay samples preparedas noted below and in Example 1. Percent conversion was quantified bydividing areas of HPLC product peaks by the sum of the areas of theproduct and substrate peaks. ¹Reaction conditions for 50° C. SFP assay:50 g/L substrate, 2 g/L SFP preparation of engineered polypeptide, 1 mMg/L pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 1M isopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO,pH 10.0. Total reaction volume: 5 mL. ²Reaction conditions for 55° C.SFP assay: 50 g/L substrate, 2 g/L SFP preparation of engineeredpolypeptide, 1 mM pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 2M isopropylamine (IPM),50% v/v DMSO, pH 11.5. Total reaction volume: 5 mL. ³Reaction conditionsfor 60° C. SFP assay: 50 g/L substrate, 2 g/L SFP preparation ofengineered polypeptide, 1 mM g/L pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 2Misopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH 11.5. Total reaction volume: 5mL. ⁴Reaction conditions for 55° C. SFP 2 h assay: 50 g/L substrate,0.5, 1, or 2 g/L SFP preparation of engineered polypeptide, 1.2 mMpyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 2M isopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH11.5. Total reaction volume: 5 mL.

TABLE 2C DSP Activity and Stability 50° C. Assay 55° C. Assay SEQ AminoAcid Differences % Conv.¹ % Conv.² % Conv.³ % Conv.⁴ ID NO: (compared toSEQ ID (1.0 g/L (0.5 g/L (1.0 g/L (0.5 g/L (nt/aa) NO: 2) enzyme)enzyme) % e.e. enzyme) enzyme) % e.e. 1/2 None 59.7 33.3 99.9 7.8 4.199.9 63/64 E42G; S54P; C152S; 82.8 71.4 99.9 22.9 8.7 99.9 Q155T; R164P;121/122 E42G; S54P; S150F; 81.7 71.8 99.9 52.1 37.1 99.9 C152S; Q155T;C215G; I267V; 129/130 E42G; S54P; S150F; 83.5 72.8 99.9 68.4 54.3 99.9C152S; Q155L; W156Q; C215G; Percent conversion of substrate compound (2)to product (1) was determined by HPLC analysis of the quenched assaysamples prepared as noted below and in Example 1. Percent conversion wasquantified by dividing areas of HPLC product peaks by the sum of theareas of the product and substrate peaks. ¹Reaction conditions for 50°C., 1 g/L DSP assay: 50 g/L substrate compound (2), 1 g/L DSPpreparation of engineered polypeptide, 1 mM g/L pyridoxal-5′-phosphate(PLP), 1M isopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH 10.0, 50° C. Totalreaction volume: 5 mL. ²Reaction conditions for 50° C., 0.5 g/L DSPassay: 50 g/L substrate compound (2), 0.5 g/L DSP preparation ofengineered polypeptide, 1 mM pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 1Misopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH 10. Total reaction volume: 5 mL.³Reaction conditions for 55° C., 1 g/L SFP assay: 50 g/L substratecompound (2), 1 g/L DSP preparation of engineered polypeptide, 1 mM g/Lpyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 2M isopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH11.5. Total reaction volume: 5 mL. ⁴Reaction conditions for 55° C., 0.5g/L SFP assay: 50 g/L substrate compound (2), 0.5 g/L DSP preparation ofengineered polypeptide, 1 mM g/L pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (PLP), 2Misopropylamine (IPM), 50% v/v DMSO, pH 11.5. Total reaction volume: 5mL.

As shown in Tables 2A-2C, the exemplary engineered polypeptides havingtransaminase activity of the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQID NO:4-306 include one or more of the following residue differences ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q,X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q,X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P,X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H,X325M, and X328I. Based on the properties of the exemplary engineeredpolypeptides of SEQ ID NO:4-306 disclosed in Tables 2A-2C (and Example1), improved enzyme properties such as increased activity for convertingcompound (2) to compound (1), increased thermal, solvent, and/or pHstability, are associated with at least the following residuedifferences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2: In some embodiments, the presentdisclosure provides an engineered polypeptide having transaminaseactivity comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 80% sequenceidentity to reference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and (a) an amino acidresidue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from X33L, X36C,X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G, X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q,X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R, X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R, X270T, X273H,X325M; and X241R, and/or (b) a combination of residue differencesselected from: X42G, X54P, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T,and R164P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155T, and X267V; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, andC215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V; X33L; X42G,X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; and X41K, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X109S,X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q,and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H;X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, and X241R; X41F,X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X41F, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215H; X42G, X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X69S,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X192F, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X224I;X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V, and X284I;X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, and X284P; X42G,X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284P; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X215G, and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,and X284I; and X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, and X215G.

As will be apparent to the skilled artisan, the foregoing residuepositions and the specific amino acid residues for each residue positioncan be used individually or in various combinations to synthesizetransaminase polypeptides having desired improved properties, including,among others, enzyme activity, substrate/product preference,stereoselectivity, substrate/product tolerance, and stability undervarious conditions, such as increased temperature, solvent, and/or pH.

In light of the guidance provided herein, it is further contemplatedthat any of the exemplary engineered polypeptides having theeven-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306 can be used as thestarting amino acid sequence for synthesizing other engineeredtransaminase polypeptides, for example by subsequent rounds of evolutionby adding in new combinations of various amino acid differences fromother polypeptides in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C, and other residue positionsdescribed herein. Further improvements may be generated by includingamino acid differences at positions that had been maintained asunchanged throughout earlier rounds of evolution.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the present disclosure provides anengineered polypeptide having transaminase activity comprising an aminoacid sequence having at least 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%,92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more identity to referencesequence SEQ ID NO:2 and In some embodiments, the present disclosureprovides an engineered polypeptide having transaminase activitycomprising an amino acid sequence having at least 80% sequence identityto reference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and (a) an amino acid residuedifference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from X33L, X36C,X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G, X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q,X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R, X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R, X270T, X273H,X325M; and X241R, and/or (b) a combination of residue differencesselected from: X42G, X54P, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T,and R164P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155T, and X267V; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, andC215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V; X33L; X42G,X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; and X41K, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X109S,X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q,and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H;X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, and X241R; X41F,X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X41F, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215H; X42G, X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X69S,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X192F, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X224I;X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V, and X284I;X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, and X284P; X42G,X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284P; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X215G, and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,and X284I; and X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, and X215G.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptide having transaminaseactivity comprises an amino acid sequence an amino acid sequence havingat least 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%,96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more identity to a reference sequence selectedfrom the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, and (a)one or more amino acid residue differences selected from In someembodiments, the present disclosure provides an engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity comprising an amino acid sequence having atleast 80% sequence identity to reference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and (a)an amino acid residue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selectedfrom X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G, X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S,X122F/Q, X148Q, X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R, X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R,X270T, X273H, X325M; and X241R, and/or (b) a combination of residuedifferences selected from: X42G, X54P, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P,X152S, X155T, and R164P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, and X267V; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,W156Q, and C215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V;X33L; X42G, X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; andX41K, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G,X54P, X109S, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, andX241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G;X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R;X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F,X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215H; X42G, X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X69S, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F,X152T, X155V, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X192F, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,and X224I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V,and X284I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, andX284P; X42G, X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, andX284P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X215G, and X284I; and X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, andX215G.

In some embodiments, the reference sequence is selected from SEQ IDNO:4, 40, 62, 64, 70, 78, 122, 130, 160, 178, and 192. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:4. In some embodiments,the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:40. In some embodiments, thereference sequence is SEQ ID NO:62. In some embodiments, the referencesequence is SEQ ID NO:64. In some embodiments, the reference sequence isSEQ ID NO:70. In some embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ IDNO:78. In some embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:122. Insome embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:130. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:160. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:178. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:192.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptide having transaminaseactivity comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 80%, 85%, 86%,87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%identity to one of the sequences having the even-numbered sequenceidentifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, and the combination of amino acidresidue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 present in any one of thesequences having the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ IDNO:4-306. In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptide havingtransaminase activity comprises an amino acid sequence selected from theeven-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306.

In addition to the residue positions specified above, any of theengineered transaminase polypeptides disclosed herein can furthercomprise residue differences relative to the reference polypeptidesequence of SEQ ID NO:2 at other residue positions i.e., residuepositions other than X5, X33, X36, X41, X42, X44, X48, X49, X51, X54,X55, X76, X108, X117, X122, X126, X148, X150, X152, X155, X156, X160,X164, X165, X182, X215, X218, X241, X267, X270, X273, X325, and X328.Residue differences at these other residue positions can provide foradditional variations in the amino acid sequence without altering thepolypeptide's transaminase activity. Accordingly, in some embodiments,in addition to the amino acid residue differences of any one of theengineered transaminase polypeptides selected from the polypeptideshaving the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, thesequence can further comprise 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9,1-10, 1-11, 1-12, 1-14, 1-15, 1-16, 1-18, 1-20, 1-22, 1-24, 1-26, 1-30,1-35, 1-40, 1-45, 1-50, 1-55, or 1-60 residue differences at other aminoacid residue positions as compared to the SEQ ID NO:2. In someembodiments, the number of amino acid residue differences as compared tothe reference sequence can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50,55, or 60 residue positions. In some embodiments, the residuedifferences at other amino acid residue positions can compriseconservative substitutions and/or non-conservative substitutions ascompared to a reference sequence of the wild-type polypeptide of SEQ IDNO:2 or the engineered polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2.

Amino acid residue differences at other positions relative to thewild-type sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and the affect of these differences onenzyme function are described for other engineered transaminasepolypeptides disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23,2012, PCT Publication WO2011005477A1, published Jan. 13, 2011, and PCTpublication WO2012024104, published Feb. 23, 2012; each of which areincorporated by reference herein. Accordingly, in some embodiments, oneor more of the amino acid differences as compared to the wild-typesequence of SEQ ID NO:2 can also be introduced into a engineeredtransaminase polypeptide of the present disclosure at residue positionsselected from X2; X4; X5; X7; X8; X9; X10; X11; X14; X18; X22; X25; X26;X27; X28; X30; X37; X38; X41; X44; X48; X49; X50; X55; X58; X60; X65;X81; X82; X94; X96L; X102; X108; X120; X135; X137; X138; X141; X142;X146; X148; X163; X163; X164; X169; X171; X178; X181; X182; X204; X209;X210; X211; X213; X215; X217; X218; X223; X225; X230; X242; X245; X252;X265; X292; X297; X302; X306; X321; X328 and X329. In particular, thechoices of amino acid residues at the foregoing positions can beselected from the following: X2K/Q/S; X4I/Y; X5K/H/I/L/N/S/T/V; X7A;X8P/T; X9N/Q/S; X10V; X11K; X14R; X18C; X22I; X25Q; X26H; X27T; X28P;X30M/Q; X37R; X38G; X41H/S/F; X44Q/V; X48A/D/G/Q/V; X49T; X50L; X55V/L;X58L; X60F; X65A/T/C/G/S; X81G; X82S; X94I/L; X96L; X102L/K; X108V;X120Y; X135Q; X137T/I; X138K/P; X141L; X142R/T; X146R; X148A/F; X163H/V;X164P/V/A; X169L; X171A; X178S; X181G; X182T; X204A; X209L/C/D/E; X210S;X211I; X213P; X215F/Y/C; X217N/S; X218M; X223I/L/M/N/P; X225Y; X230V;X242T; X245S; X252F; X265T; X292T; X297S; X302A; X306L; X321P; X328I;and X329H. Further guidance on the choice of the amino acid residues atthe residue positions can be found in the cited references.

As discussed above, the engineered polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO:2used as the starting backbone for generating the exemplary engineeredtransaminase polypeptides is also an engineered transaminase polypeptidehaving the following 28 amino acid differences relative to the naturallyoccurring transaminase of Arthrobacter sp. KNK168 (GenBank Acc. No.BAK39753.1, GI:336088341): S8P, Y60F, L61Y, H62T, V65A, V69T, D81G,M94I, I96L, F122M, S124T, S126T, G136F, Y150S, V152C, A169L, V199I,A209L, G215C, G217N, S223P, L269P, L273Y, T282S, A284G, P297S, I306V,and S321P. Thus, in some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides havingtransaminase activity comprising an amino acid sequence having at least80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%,98%, or 99% identity to a reference amino acid sequence selected fromany one of the sequences having the even-numbered sequence identifiersof SEQ ID NO:4-306, has an amino acid sequence that does not include aresidue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 at one or more of thefollowing positions: X8; X60; X61; X62; X65; X81; X94; X96; X122; X124;X136; X169; X199; X209; X215; X217; X223; X269; X273; X282; X284; X297;X306; and X321.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure also provides engineeredtransaminase polypeptides that comprise a fragment of any of theengineered transaminase polypeptides described herein that retains thefunctional transaminase activity and/or improved property of thatengineered transaminase polypeptide. Accordingly, in some embodiments,the present disclosure provides a polypeptide fragment havingtransaminase activity (e.g., capable of converting compound (2) tocompound (1) under suitable reaction conditions), wherein the fragmentcomprises at least about 80%, 90%, 95%, 98%, or 99% of a full-lengthamino acid sequence of an engineered polypeptide of the presentdisclosure, such as an exemplary engineered polypeptide of having theeven-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306.

In some embodiments, the engineered transaminase polypeptide of thedisclosure can have an amino acid sequence comprising a deletion ascompared to any one of the engineered transaminase polypeptide sequencesdescribed herein, such as the exemplary engineered polypeptide sequenceshaving the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306. Thus,for each and every embodiment of the engineered transaminasepolypeptides of the disclosure, the amino acid sequence can comprisedeletions of one or more amino acids, 2 or more amino acids, 3 or moreamino acids, 4 or more amino acids, 5 or more amino acids, 6 or moreamino acids, 8 or more amino acids, 10 or more amino acids, 15 or moreamino acids, or 20 or more amino acids, up to 10% of the total number ofamino acids, up to 10% of the total number of amino acids, up to 20% ofthe total number of amino acids, or up to 30% of the total number ofamino acids of the transaminase polypeptides, where the associatedfunctional activity and/or improved properties of the engineeredtransaminase described herein is maintained. In some embodiments, thedeletions can comprise, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10,1-15, 1-20, 1-21, 1-22, 1-23, 1-24, 1-25, 1-30, 1-35, 1-40, 1-45, 1-50,1-55, or 1-60 amino acid residues. In some embodiments, the number ofdeletions can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, or 60amino acid residues. In some embodiments, the deletions can comprisedeletions of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18,20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 or 30 amino acid residues.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides an engineeredtransaminase polypeptide having an amino acid sequence comprising aninsertion as compared to any one of the engineered transaminasepolypeptide sequences described herein, such as the exemplary engineeredpolypeptide sequences having the even-numbered sequence identifiers ofSEQ ID NO:4-306. Thus, for each and every embodiment of the transaminasepolypeptides of the disclosure, the insertions can comprise one or moreamino acids, 2 or more amino acids, 3 or more amino acids, 4 or moreamino acids, 5 or more amino acids, 6 or more amino acids, 8 or moreamino acids, 10 or more amino acids, 15 or more amino acids, or 20 ormore amino acids, where the associated functional activity and/orimproved properties of the engineered transaminase described herein ismaintained. The insertions can be to amino or carboxy terminus, orinternal portions of the transaminase polypeptide.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a engineeredpolypeptides having transaminase activity, which comprise an amino acidsequence having at least 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%,93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity to the sequences havingthe even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, with theproviso that the amino acid sequence is not identical to (that is, itexcludes) any of the exemplary engineered transaminase polypeptidesamino acid sequences disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2, issuedOct. 23, 2012, PCT Publication WO2011005477A1, published Jan. 13, 2011,PCT publication WO2012024104, published Feb. 23, 2012, and PCT Appl. No.PCT/US12/54300, filed Sep. 7, 2012, each of which is hereby incorporatedby reference herein.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity of the present disclosure also are capable of converting asubstrate compound of Formula (II), Formula (IIa), compound (2), and/orcompound (4) to a corresponding amine product compound of Formula (I),Formula (Ia), compound (1) and/or compound (3), respectively. In someembodiments, the engineered polypeptides have improved activity and/orstability relative to the activity and/or stability of the engineeredpolypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 in converting a substrate compound of Formula(II), Formula (IIa), and/or compound (2) to a corresponding amineproduct compound of Formula (I), Formula (Ia), and/or compound (1),under suitable reaction conditions. In particular, reaction conditionsuseful for the industrial scale production of such compounds.

In the above embodiments, the suitable reaction conditions for theengineered polypeptides are those described in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C.Accordingly, in some embodiments, the suitable reaction conditionscomprise: (a) substrate loading of about 10 to 200 g/L of substratecompound of Formula (II), Formula (IIa), compound (2), or compound (4);(b) engineered polypeptide concentration of about 0.5 g/L to 5 g/L; (c)IPM concentration of about 0.1 to 3 M; (d) PLP cofactor concentration ofabout 0.1 to 1 mM; (e) DMSO concentration of about 30% (v/v) to about60% (v/v); (f) pH of about 9.5 to 11.5; and (g) temperature of about 45°C. to 60° C. In some embodiments, the suitable reaction conditionscomprise: (a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound of Formula (II),Formula (IIa), compound (2), or compound (4); (b) about 2 g/L engineeredpolypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v) dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO); (d) about 1 Misopropylamine (IPM); (e) about 1 mM pyridoxal phosphate (PLP); (f)about pH 10; and (g) about 50° C. Guidance for use of these reactionconditions and the transaminase polypeptides are provided in, amongothers, Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C, and the Examples.

In some embodiments, the polypeptides of the disclosure can be in theform of fusion polypeptides in which the engineered polypeptides arefused to other polypeptides, such as, by way of example and notlimitation, antibody tags (e.g., myc epitope), purification sequences(e.g., His tags for binding to metals), and cell localization signals(e.g., secretion signals). Thus, the engineered polypeptides describedherein can be used with or without fusions to other polypeptides.

The engineered transaminase polypeptides described herein are notrestricted to the genetically encoded amino acids. Thus, in addition tothe genetically encoded amino acids, the polypeptides described hereinmay be comprised, either in whole or in part, of naturally-occurringand/or synthetic non-encoded amino acids. Certain commonly encounterednon-encoded amino acids of which the polypeptides described herein maybe comprised include, but are not limited to: the D-stereoisomers of thegenetically-encoded amino acids; 2,3-diaminopropionic acid (Dpr);α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib); ϵ-aminohexanoic acid (Aha); δ-aminovalericacid (Ava); N-methylglycine or sarcosine (MeGly or Sar); ornithine(Orn); citrulline (Cit); t-butylalanine (Bua); t-butylglycine (Bug);N-methylisoleucine (MeIle); phenylglycine (Phg); cyclohexylalanine(Cha); norleucine (Nle); naphthylalanine (Nal); 2-chlorophenylalanine(Ocf); 3-chlorophenylalanine (Mcf); 4-chlorophenylalanine (Pcf);2-fluorophenylalanine (Off); 3-fluorophenylalanine (Mff);4-fluorophenylalanine (Pff); 2-bromophenylalanine (Obf);3-bromophenylalanine (Mbf); 4-bromophenylalanine (Pbf);2-methylphenylalanine (Omf); 3-methylphenylalanine (Mmf);4-methylphenylalanine (Pmf); 2-nitrophenylalanine (Onf);3-nitrophenylalanine (Mnf); 4-nitrophenylalanine (Pnf);2-cyanophenylalanine (Ocf); 3-cyanophenylalanine (Mcf);4-cyanophenylalanine (Pcf); 2-trifluoromethylphenylalanine (Otf);3-trifluoromethylphenylalanine (Mtf); 4-trifluoromethylphenylalanine(Ptf); 4-aminophenylalanine (Paf); 4-iodophenylalanine (Pif);4-aminomethylphenylalanine (Pamf); 2,4-dichlorophenylalanine (Opef);3,4-dichlorophenylalanine (Mpcf); 2,4-difluorophenylalanine (Opff);3,4-difluorophenylalanine (Mpff); pyrid-2-ylalanine (2pAla);pyrid-3-ylalanine (3pAla); pyrid-4-ylalanine (4pAla); naphth-1-ylalanine(1nAla); naphth-2-ylalanine (2nAla); thiazolylalanine (taAla);benzothienylalanine (bAla); thienylalanine (tAla); furylalanine (fAla);homophenylalanine (hPhe); homotyrosine (hTyr); homotryptophan (hTrp);pentafluorophenylalanine (5ff); styrylkalanine (sAla); authrylalanine(aAla); 3,3-diphenylalanine (Dfa); 3-amino-5-phenypentanoic acid (Afp);penicillamine (Pen); 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid(Tic); β-2-thienylalanine (Thi); methionine sulfoxide (Mso);N(w)-nitroarginine (nArg); homolysine (hLys);phosphonomethylphenylalanine (pmPhe); phosphoserine (pSer);phosphothreonine (pThr); homoaspartic acid (hAsp); homoglutamic acid(hGlu); 1-aminocyclopent-(2 or 3)-ene-4 carboxylic acid; pipecolic acid(PA), azetidine-3-carboxylic acid (ACA);1-aminocyclopentane-3-carboxylic acid; allylglycine (aOly);propargylglycine (pgGly); homoalanine (hAla); norvaline (nVal);homoleucine (hLeu), homovaline (hVal); homoisoleucine (hIle);homoarginine (hArg); N-acetyl lysine (AcLys); 2,4-diaminobutyric acid(Dbu); 2,3-diaminobutyric acid (Dab); N-methylvaline (MeVal);homocysteine (hCys); homoserine (hSer); hydroxyproline (Hyp) andhomoproline (hPro). Additional non-encoded amino acids of which thepolypeptides described herein may be comprised will be apparent to thoseof skill in the art (see, e.g., the various amino acids provided inFasman, 1989, CRC Practical Handbook of Biochemistry and MolecularBiology, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., at pp. 3-70 and the referencescited therein, all of which are incorporated by reference). These aminoacids may be in either the L- or D-configuration.

Those of skill in the art will recognize that amino acids or residuesbearing side chain protecting groups may also comprise the polypeptidesdescribed herein. Non-limiting examples of such protected amino acids,which in this case belong to the aromatic category, include (protectinggroups listed in parentheses), but are not limited to: Arg(tos),Cys(methylbenzyl), Cys (nitropyridinesulfenyl), Glu(δ-benzylester),Gln(xanthyl), Asn(N-δ-xanthyl), His(bom), His(benzyl), His(tos),Lys(fmoc), Lys(tos), Ser(O-benzyl), Thr (O-benzyl) and Tyr(O-benzyl).

Non-encoding amino acids that are conformationally constrained of whichthe polypeptides described herein may be composed include, but are notlimited to, N-methyl amino acids (L-configuration); 1-aminocyclopent-(2or 3)-ene-4-carboxylic acid; pipecolic acid; azetidine-3-carboxylicacid; homoproline (hPro); and 1-aminocyclopentane-3-carboxylic acid.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides can be provided on asolid support, such as a membrane, resin, solid carrier, or other solidphase material. A solid support can be composed of organic polymers suchas polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyfluoroethylene,polyethyleneoxy, and polyacrylamide, as well as co-polymers and graftsthereof. A solid support can also be inorganic, such as glass, silica,controlled pore glass (CPG), reverse phase silica or metal, such as goldor platinum. The configuration of a solid support can be in the form ofbeads, spheres, particles, granules, a gel, a membrane or a surface.Surfaces can be planar, substantially planar, or non-planar. Solidsupports can be porous or non-porous, and can have swelling ornon-swelling characteristics. A solid support can be configured in theform of a well, depression, or other container, vessel, feature, orlocation.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity are bound or immobilized on the solid support such that theyretain their improved activity, enantioselectivity, stereoselectivity,and/or other improved properties relative to the reference polypeptideof SEQ ID NO:2. In such embodiments, the immobilized polypeptides canfacilitate the biocatalytic conversion of the substrate compound ofFormula (II), Formula (Ha), compound (2), and/or compound (4) to acorresponding amine product compound of Formula (I), Formula (Ia),compound (1), and/or compound (3), and after the reaction is completeare easily retained (e.g., by retaining beads on which polypeptide isimmobilized) and then reused or recycled in subsequent reactions. Suchimmobilized enzyme processes allow for further efficiency and costreduction. Accordingly, it is further contemplated that any of themethods of using the engineered transaminase polypeptides of the presentdisclosure can be carried out using the same transaminase polypeptidesbound or immobilized on a solid support.

The engineered transaminase polypeptide can be bound non-covalently orcovalently. Various methods for conjugation and immobilization ofenzymes to solid supports (e.g., resins, membranes, beads, glass, etc.)are well known in the art. In particular, PCT publication WO2012/177527A1 immobilized engineered transaminase polypeptides capable ofconverting compound (2) to compound (1) (including the referencepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2), and methods of preparing the immobilizedpolypeptides, in which the polypeptide is physically attached to a resinby either hydrophobic interactions or covalent bonds, and is stable in asolvent system that comprises at least up to 100% organic solvent. Othermethods for conjugation and immobilization of enzymes to solid supports(e.g., resins, membranes, beads, glass, etc.) are well known in the artand described in e.g.,: Yi et al., “Covalent immobilization ofω-transaminase from Vibrio fluvialis JS17 on chitosan beads,” ProcessBiochemistry 42(5): 895-898 (May 2007); Martin et al., “Characterizationof free and immobilized (5)-aminotransferase for acetophenoneproduction,” Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 76(4): 843-851(September 2007); Koszelewski et al., “Immobilization of ω-transaminasesby encapsulation in a sol-gel/celite matrix,” Journal of MolecularCatalysis B: Enzymatic, 63: 39-44 (April 2010); Truppo et al.,“Development of an Improved Immobilized CAL-B for the EnzymaticResolution of a Key Intermediate to Odanacatib,” Organic ProcessResearch & Development, published online: dx.doi.org/10.1021/op200157c;Hermanson, G. T., Bioconjugate Techniques, Second Edition, AcademicPress (2008); Mateo et al., “Epoxy sepabeads: a novel epoxy support forstabilization of industrial enzymes via very intense multipoint covalentattachment,” Biotechnology Progress 18(3):629-34 (2002); andBioconjugation Protocols: Strategies and Methods, In Methods inMolecular Biology, C. M. Niemeyer ed., Humana Press (2004); thedisclosures of each which are incorporated by reference herein.

Solid supports useful for immobilizing the engineered transaminasepolypeptides of the present disclosure include but are not limited tobeads or resins comprising polymethacrylate with epoxide functionalgroups, polymethacrylate with amino epoxide functional groups,styrene/DVB copolymer or polymethacrylate with octadecyl functionalgroups. Exemplary solid supports useful for immobilizing the engineeredtransaminases of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to,chitosan beads, Eupergit C, and SEPABEADs (Mitsubishi), including thefollowing different types of SEPABEAD: EC-EP, EC-HFA/S, EXA252, EXE119and EXE120.

In some embodiments, the engineered transaminase polypeptides can beprovided in the form of an array in which the polypeptides are arrangedin positionally distinct locations. In some embodiments, thepositionally distinct locations are wells in a solid support such as a96-well plate. A plurality of supports can be configured on an array atvarious locations, addressable for robotic delivery of reagents, or bydetection methods and/or instruments. Such arrays can be used to test avariety of substrate compounds for conversion by the polypeptides.

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides described herein can beprovided in the form of kits. The polypeptides in the kits may bepresent individually or as a plurality of polypeptides. The kits canfurther include reagents for carrying out enzymatic reactions,substrates for assessing the activity of polypeptides, as well asreagents for detecting the products. The kits can also include reagentdispensers and instructions for use of the kits. In some embodiments,the kits of the present disclosure include arrays comprising a pluralityof different engineered transaminase polypeptides at differentaddressable position, wherein the different polypeptides are differentvariants of a reference sequence each having at least one differentimproved enzyme property. Such arrays comprising a plurality ofengineered polypeptides and methods of their use are known (See e.g.,WO2009/008908A2).

5.4 Polynucleotides, Control Sequences, Expression Vectors, and HostCells Useful for Preparing Engineered Transaminase Polypeptides

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides polynucleotidesencoding the engineered polypeptides having transaminase activitydescribed herein. The polynucleotides may be operatively linked to oneor more heterologous regulatory sequences that control gene expressionto create a recombinant polynucleotide capable of expressing thepolypeptide. Expression constructs containing a heterologouspolynucleotide encoding the engineered transaminase can be introducedinto appropriate host cells to express the corresponding engineeredtransaminase polypeptide.

As will be apparent to the skilled artisan, availability of a proteinsequence and the knowledge of the codons corresponding to the variousamino acids provide a description of all the polynucleotides capable ofencoding the subject protein sequence. The degeneracy of the geneticcode, where the same amino acids are encoded by alternative orsynonymous codons allows an extremely large number of nucleic acids tobe made, all of which encode the improved transaminase enzymes disclosedherein. Thus, having identified a particular amino acid sequence, thoseskilled in the art could make any number of different nucleic acids bysimply modifying the sequence of one or more codons in a way which doesnot change the amino acid sequence of the protein. In this regard, thepresent disclosure specifically contemplates each and every possiblevariation of polynucleotides that could be made by selectingcombinations based on the possible codon choices, and all suchvariations are to be considered specifically disclosed for anypolypeptide disclosed herein, including the amino acid sequences of theexemplary engineered polypeptides provided in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C, anddisclosed in the sequence listing incorporated by reference herein asthe sequences of the even-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ IDNO:4-306. As described herein, in some embodiments, excluded from theembodiments of the polynucleotides are sequences encoding one or more ofamino acid sequences selected from SEQ ID NO:4, 40, 62, 64, 70, 78, 122,130, 160, 178, and 192.

In various embodiments, the codons are preferably selected to fit thehost cell in which the protein is being produced. For example, preferredcodons used in bacteria are used to express the gene in bacteria;preferred codons used in yeast are used for expression in yeast; andpreferred codons used in mammals are used for expression in mammaliancells. In some embodiments, all codons need not be replaced to optimizethe codon usage of the transaminases since the natural sequence willcomprise preferred codons and because use of preferred codons may not berequired for all amino acid residues. Consequently, codon optimizedpolynucleotides encoding the transaminase enzymes may contain preferredcodons at about 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, or greater than 90% of codonpositions of the full length coding region.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotide encodes a transaminasepolypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence that is at least about80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%,98%, 99%, or more identical to a reference sequence selected from theeven-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, where thepolypeptide has transaminase activity and one or more of the improvedproperties as described herein, for example the ability to convertcompound (2) to product compound (1) with increased activity compared tothe polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2. In some embodiments, the referencesequence is selected from SEQ ID NO:4, 40, 62, 64, 70, 78, 122, 130,160, 178, and 192. In some embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ IDNO:4. In some embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:40. Insome embodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:62. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:64. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:70. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:78. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:122. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:130. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:160. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:178. In someembodiments, the reference sequence is SEQ ID NO:192.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotide encodes an engineeredtransaminase polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence that has thepercent identity described above and (a) has one or more amino acidresidue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from In someembodiments, the present disclosure provides an engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity comprising an amino acid sequence having atleast 80% sequence identity to reference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and (a)an amino acid residue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selectedfrom X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G, X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S,X122F/Q, X148Q, X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V, X156R, X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R,X270T, X273H, X325M; and X241R, and/or (b) a combination of residuedifferences selected from: X42G, X54P, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P,X152S, X155T, and R164P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, and X267V; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,W156Q, and C215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V;X33L; X42G, X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; andX41K, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G,X54P, X109S, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, andX241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G;X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R;X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F,X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215H; X42G, X54P, X60V, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, andX215G; X42G, X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X69S, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q,X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F,X152T, X155V, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X192F, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G,and X224I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V,and X284I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, andX284P; X42G, X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, andX284P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X283S; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X215G, and X284I; and X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, andX215G.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotide encodes an engineeredtransaminase polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence that has thepercent identity described above and one or more residue differences ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R,X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G,X122F/Q, X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S,X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T,X273H, X325M, and X328I.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotide encoding the engineeredtransaminase polypeptide comprises a sequence selected from theodd-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:3-305. In someembodiments, the polynucleotide sequences are selected from SEQ ID NO:3,39, 61, 63, 69, 77, 121, 129, 159, 177, and 191.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a polynucleotidethat hybridizes under defined conditions, such as moderately stringentor highly stringent conditions, to a polynucleotide sequence (orcomplement thereof) encoding an engineered transaminase of the presentdisclosure. In some embodiments, the polynucleotides are capable ofhybridizing under highly stringent conditions to a polynucleotideselected from the sequences having the odd-numbered sequence identifiersof SEQ ID NO:3-305, or a complement thereof, and encodes a polypeptidehaving transaminase activity with one or more of the improved propertiesdescribed herein. In some embodiments, the polynucleotide capable ofhybridizing under highly stringent conditions encodes an engineeredtransaminase polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence that has (a)has one or more amino acid residue differences as compared to SEQ IDNO:2 selected from In some embodiments, the present disclosure providesan engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity comprising anamino acid sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to referencesequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and (a) an amino acid residue difference ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42G,X48D/E/G/K/T, X51K, X54P, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q, X152T, X155A/I/K/T/V,X156R, X160P, X215G/H/L, X241R, X270T, X273H, X325M; and X241R, and/or(b) a combination of residue differences selected from: X42G, X54P,X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T, and R164P; X42G, X54P,X150F, X152S, and X155T; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, and X267V;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, and C215G; X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V; X33L; X42G, X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S,X155I, X156Q, and C215G; and X41K, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K,X156Q, and C215G; X33L, X42G, X54P, X109S, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q,and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and X215G;X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X33L, X42G, X54P, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215H, and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F,X152T, X155V, X156Q, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I,X156Q, V171I, and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q,and X215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, andX215G; X41F, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X48G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215H; X42G, X54P, X60V,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X68A, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X69S, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,and X215G; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, X215G, andX241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X171I, X215G, andX241R; X42G, X54P, X122Q, X150F, X152T, X155V, X156Q, X171I, X215G, andX241R; X42G, X54P, X126M, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X135I, X136Y, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X192F, and X215G; X42G,X54P, X136I, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X136I,X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X224I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, X282V, and X284I; X42G, X54P, X136I, X150F,X152S, X155L, X156Y, X215G, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X136Y, X150F, X152S,X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V, and X284P; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155I,X156Q, X171I, X215G, and X241R; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q,X193M, and X215G; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, X282V,and X284I; X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X283S;X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Q, X215G, and X284I; and X42G,X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, X156Y, and X215G.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotide capable of hybridizing underhighly stringent conditions encodes a transaminase polypeptide that hasthe percent identity described above and one or more residue differencesas compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C,X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L,X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q, X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T,X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L,X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, and X328I.

In some embodiments, the polynucleotides encode the polypeptidesdescribed herein but have about 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%,86%, 87%, 88%, 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99%or more sequence identity at the nucleotide level to a referencepolynucleotide encoding the engineered transaminase polypeptide. In someembodiments, the reference polynucleotide sequence is selected from thesequences having the odd-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ IDNO:3-305.

An isolated polynucleotide encoding an engineered transaminasepolypeptide may be manipulated in a variety of ways to provide forexpression of the polypeptide, including further sequence alteration bycodon-optimization to improve expression, insertion in a suitableexpression with or without further control sequences, and transformationinto a host cell suitable for expression and production of thepolypeptide.

Manipulation of the isolated polynucleotide prior to its insertion intoa vector may be desirable or necessary depending on the expressionvector. The techniques for modifying polynucleotides and nucleic acidsequences utilizing recombinant DNA methods are well known in the art.Guidance is provided in Sambrook et al., 2001, Molecular Cloning: ALaboratory Manual, 3^(rd) Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; andCurrent Protocols in Molecular Biology, Ausubel. F. ed., Greene Pub.Associates, 1998, updates to 2010.

The polynucleotides disclosed herein can further comprise a promotersequence depending on the particular cellular production system used.For bacterial host cells, suitable promoters for directing transcriptionof the nucleic acid constructs of the present disclosure, include, amongothers, the promoters obtained from the E. coli lac operon, Streptomycescoelicolor agarase gene (dagA), Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene(sacB), Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene (amyL), Bacillusstearothermophilus maltogenic amylase gene (amyM), Bacillusamyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase gene (amyQ), Bacillus licheniformispenicillinase gene (penP), Bacillus subtilis xylA and xylB genes, andprokaryotic beta-lactamase gene (Villa-Kamaroff et al., 1978, Proc. NatlAcad. Sci. USA 75: 3727-3731), and the tac promoter (DeBoer et al.,1983, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 80: 21-25). For filamentous fungal hostcells, suitable promoters for directing the transcription of the nucleicacid constructs of the present disclosure include promoters obtainedfrom the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Rhizomucor mieheiaspartic proteinase, Aspergillus niger neutral alpha-amylase,Aspergillus niger acid stable alpha-amylase, Aspergillus niger orAspergillus awamori glucoamylase (glaA), Rhizomucor miehei lipase,Aspergillus oryzae alkaline protease, Aspergillus oryzae triosephosphate isomerase, Aspergillus nidulans acetamidase, and Fusariumoxysporum trypsin-like protease (WO 96/00787), as well as the NA2-tpipromoter (a hybrid of the promoters from the genes for Aspergillus nigerneutral alpha-amylase and Aspergillus oryzae triose phosphateisomerase), and mutant, truncated, and hybrid promoters thereof. In ayeast host, useful promoters can be from the genes for Saccharomycescerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae galactokinase(GAL1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcoholdehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP), andSaccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. Other usefulpromoters for yeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992,Yeast 8:423-488.

The control sequence may also be a suitable transcription terminatorsequence, a sequence recognized by a host cell to terminatetranscription. The terminator sequence is operably linked to the 3′terminus of the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide. Anyterminator which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used inthe present disclosure. For example, exemplary transcription terminatorsfor filamentous fungal host cells can be obtained from the genes forAspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase,Aspergillus nidulans anthranilate synthase, Aspergillus nigeralpha-glucosidase, and Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-like protease.Exemplary terminators for yeast host cells can be obtained from thegenes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae enolase, Saccharomyces cerevisiaecytochrome C (CYC1), and Saccharomyces cerevisiaeglyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Other useful terminators foryeast host cells are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a suitable leader sequence, anon-translated region of an mRNA that is important for translation bythe host cell. The leader sequence is operably linked to the 5′ terminusof the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide. Any leadersequence that is functional in the host cell of choice may be used.Exemplary bacterial leader sequences can use the pelB leader sequence(Lei et al., 1987, J Bacteriol. 169(9):4379-4383) and leader sequencesof dsbA, dsbC, Bce, CupA2, CupB2 of Pseudomonas fluorescens (U.S. Pat.No. 7,618,799). Exemplary leader sequences for filamentous fungal hostcells are obtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylaseand Aspergillus nidulans triose phosphate isomerase. Suitable leadersfor yeast host cells are obtained from the genes for Saccharomycescerevisiae enolase (ENO-1), Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3-phosphoglyceratekinase, Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, and Saccharomycescerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase/glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase (ADH2/GAP).

The control sequence may also be a polyadenylation sequence, a sequenceoperably linked to the 3′ terminus of the nucleic acid sequence andwhich, when transcribed, is recognized by the host cell as a signal toadd polyadenosine residues to transcribed mRNA. Any polyadenylationsequence which is functional in the host cell of choice may be used inthe present disclosure. Exemplary polyadenylation sequences forfilamentous fungal host cells can be from the genes for Aspergillusoryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Aspergillusnidulans anthranilate synthase, Fusarium oxysporum trypsin-likeprotease, and Aspergillus niger alpha-glucosidase. Usefulpolyadenylation sequences for yeast host cells are described by Guo andSherman, 1995, Mol Cell Bio 15:5983-5990. Exemplary mammalianpolyadenylation sequences can be found in Zhang et al., 2005, NucleicAcids Res. 33:D116-D120.

The control sequence may also be a signal peptide coding region thatcodes for an amino acid sequence linked to the amino terminus of apolypeptide and directs the encoded polypeptide into the cell'ssecretory pathway. The 5′ end of the coding sequence of the nucleic acidsequence may inherently contain a signal peptide coding region naturallylinked in translation reading frame with the segment of the codingregion that encodes the secreted polypeptide. Alternatively, the 5′ endof the coding sequence may contain a signal peptide coding region thatis foreign to the coding sequence. The foreign signal peptide codingregion may be required where the coding sequence does not naturallycontain a signal peptide coding region.

Alternatively, the foreign signal peptide coding region may simplyreplace the natural signal peptide coding region in order to enhancesecretion of the polypeptide. However, any signal peptide coding regionwhich directs the expressed polypeptide into the secretory pathway of ahost cell of choice may be used. Effective signal peptide coding regionsfor bacterial host cells are the signal peptide coding regions obtainedfrom the genes for Bacillus NClB 11837 maltogenic amylase, Bacillusstearothennophilus alpha-amylase, Bacillus licheniformis subtilisin,Bacillus licheniformis beta-lactamase, Bacillus stearothermophilusneutral proteases (nprT, nprS, nprM), and Bacillus subtilis prsA.Further signal peptides are described by Simonen and Palva, 1993,Microbiol Rev 57: 109-137. Effective signal peptide coding regions forfilamentous fungal host cells can be the signal peptide coding regionsobtained from the genes for Aspergillus oryzae TAKA amylase, Aspergillusniger neutral amylase, Aspergillus niger glucoamylase, Rhizomucor mieheiaspartic proteinase, Humicola insolens cellulase, and Humicolalanuginosa lipase. Useful signal peptides for yeast host cells can befrom the genes for Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor andSaccharomyces cerevisiae invertase. Other useful signal peptide codingregions are described by Romanos et al., 1992, supra.

The control sequence may also be a propeptide coding region that codesfor an amino acid sequence positioned at the amino terminus of apolypeptide. The resultant polypeptide is known as a pro-enzyme orpro-polypeptide (or a zymogen in some cases). A pro-polypeptide can beconverted to a mature active polypeptide by catalytic or autocatalyticcleavage of the pro-peptide from the pro-polypeptide. The pro-peptidecoding region may be obtained from the genes for Bacillus subtilisalkaline protease (aprE), Bacillus subtilis neutral protease (nprT),Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor, Rhizomucor miehei asparticproteinase, and Myceliophthora thermophila lactase (WO 95/33836). Whereboth signal peptide and propeptide regions are present at the aminoterminus of a polypeptide, the pro-peptide region is positioned next tothe amino terminus of a polypeptide and the signal peptide region ispositioned next to the amino terminus of the pro-peptide region.

It may also be desirable to add regulatory sequences, which allow theregulation of the expression of the polypeptide relative to the growthof the host cell. Examples of regulatory systems are those which causethe expression of the gene to be turned on or off in response to achemical or physical stimulus, including the presence of a regulatorycompound. In prokaryotic host cells, suitable regulatory sequencesinclude the lac, tac, and trp operator systems. In yeast host cells,suitable regulatory systems include, as examples, the ADH2 system orGAL1 system. In filamentous fungi, suitable regulatory sequences includethe TAKA alpha-amylase promoter, Aspergillus niger glucoamylasepromoter, and Aspergillus oryzae glucoamylase promoter. Other examplesof regulatory sequences are those which allow for gene amplification. Ineukaryotic systems, these include the dihydrofolate reductase gene,which is amplified in the presence of methotrexate, and themetallothionein genes, which are amplified with heavy metals. In thesecases, the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide of the presentdisclosure would be operably linked with the regulatory sequence.

In another aspect, the present disclosure is also directed to arecombinant expression vector comprising a polynucleotide encoding anengineered transaminase polypeptide or a variant thereof, and one ormore expression regulating regions such as a promoter and a terminator,a replication origin, etc., depending on the type of hosts into whichthey are to be introduced. The various nucleic acid and controlsequences described above may be joined together to produce arecombinant expression vector which may include one or more convenientrestriction sites to allow for insertion or substitution of the nucleicacid sequence encoding the polypeptide at such sites. Alternatively, thenucleic acid sequence of the present disclosure may be expressed byinserting the nucleic acid sequence or a nucleic acid constructcomprising the sequence into an appropriate vector for expression. Increating the expression vector, the coding sequence is located in thevector so that the coding sequence is operably linked with theappropriate control sequences for expression.

The recombinant expression vector may be any vector (e.g., a plasmid orvirus), which can be conveniently subjected to recombinant DNAprocedures and can bring about the expression of the polynucleotidesequence. The choice of the vector will typically depend on thecompatibility of the vector with the host cell into which the vector isto be introduced. The vectors may be linear or closed circular plasmids.The expression vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e., avector that exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication ofwhich is independent of chromosomal replication, e.g., a plasmid, anextrachromosomal element, a minichromosome, or an artificial chromosome.The vector may contain any means for assuring self-replication.Alternatively, the vector may be one which, when introduced into thehost cell, is integrated into the genome and replicated together withthe chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Furthermore, asingle vector or plasmid or two or more vectors or plasmids whichtogether contain the total DNA to be introduced into the genome of thehost cell, or a transposon may be used.

The expression vector of the present disclosure can include one or moreselectable markers, which permit easy selection of transformed cells. Aselectable marker is a gene the product of which provides for biocide orviral resistance, resistance to heavy metals, prototrophy to auxotrophs,and the like. Examples of bacterial selectable markers are the dal genesfrom Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus licheniformis, or markers whichconfer antibiotic resistance such as ampicillin, kanamycin,chloramphenicol, or tetracycline resistance. Suitable markers for yeasthost cells are ADE2, HIS3, LEU2, LYS2, MET3, TRP1, and URA3. Selectablemarkers for use in a filamentous fungal host cell include, but are notlimited to, amdS (acetamidase), argB (ornithine carbamoyltransferase),bar (phosphinothricin acetyltransferase), hph (hygromycinphosphotransferase), niaD (nitrate reductase), pyrG(orotidine-5′-phosphate decarboxylase), sC (sulfate adenyltransferase),and trpC (anthranilate synthase), as well as equivalents thereof.Embodiments for use in an Aspergillus cell include the amdS and pyrGgenes of Aspergillus nidulans or Aspergillus oryzae and the bar gene ofStreptomyces hygroscopicus.

The expression vectors of the present disclosure also can include anelement(s) that permits integration of the vector into the host cell'sgenome or autonomous replication of the vector in the cell independentof the genome. For integration into the host cell genome, the vector mayrely on the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide or any otherelement of the vector for integration of the vector into the genome byhomologous or non-homologous recombination.

Alternatively, the expression vector may contain additional nucleic acidsequences for directing integration by homologous recombination into thegenome of the host cell. The additional nucleic acid sequences enablethe vector to be integrated into the host cell genome at a preciselocation(s) in the chromosome(s). To increase the likelihood ofintegration at a precise location, the integrational elements shouldpreferably contain a sufficient number of nucleic acids, such as 100 to10,000 base pairs, preferably 400 to 10,000 base pairs, and mostpreferably 800 to 10,000 base pairs, which are highly homologous withthe corresponding target sequence to enhance the probability ofhomologous recombination. The integrational elements may be any sequencethat is homologous with the target sequence in the genome of the hostcell. Furthermore, the integrational elements may be non-encoding orencoding nucleic acid sequences. On the other hand, the vector may beintegrated into the genome of the host cell by non-homologousrecombination.

For autonomous replication, the vector may further comprise an origin ofreplication enabling the vector to replicate autonomously in the hostcell in question. Examples of bacterial origins of replication are P15Aori or the origins of replication of plasmids pBR322, pUC19, pACYC177(which plasmid has the P15A ori), or pACYC184 permitting replication inE. coli, and pUB110, pE194, pTA1060, or pAMβ1 permitting replication inBacillus. Examples of origins of replication for use in a yeast hostcell are the 2 micron origin of replication, ARS1, ARS4, the combinationof ARS1 and CEN3, and the combination of ARS4 and CEN6. The origin ofreplication may be one having a mutation which makes it function in atemperature-sensitive manner in the host cell (see, e.g., Ehrlich, 1978,Proc Natl Acad Sci. USA 75:1433).

More than one copy of a nucleic acid sequence of the present disclosuremay be inserted into the host cell to increase production of the geneproduct. An increase in the copy number of the nucleic acid sequence canbe obtained by integrating at least one additional copy of the sequenceinto the host cell genome or by including an amplifiable selectablemarker gene with the nucleic acid sequence where cells containingamplified copies of the selectable marker gene, and thereby additionalcopies of the nucleic acid sequence, can be selected for by cultivatingthe cells in the presence of the appropriate selectable agent.

Many expression vectors useful with the embodiments of the presentdisclosure are commercially available. Suitable commercial expressionvectors include p3xFLAGTM™ expression vectors from Sigma-AldrichChemicals, which includes a CMV promoter and hGH polyadenylation sitefor expression in mammalian host cells and a pBR322 origin ofreplication and ampicillin resistance markers for amplification in E.coli. Other suitable expression vectors are pBluescriptII SK(−) andpBK-CMV, which are commercially available from Stratagene, LaJollaCalif., and plasmids which are derived from pBR322 (Gibco BRL), pUC(Gibco BRL), pREP4, pCEP4 (Invitrogen) or pPoly (Lathe et al., 1987,Gene 57:193-201).

An exemplary expression vector can be prepared by operatively linking apolynucleotide encoding an improved transaminase into the plasmidpCK110900I which contains the lac promoter under control of the ladrepressor. The expression vector also contains the P15a origin ofreplication and the chloramphenicol resistance gene.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a host cellcomprising a polynucleotide encoding an improved transaminasepolypeptide of the present disclosure, the polynucleotide beingoperatively linked to one or more control sequences for expression ofthe transaminase enzyme in the host cell. Host cells for use inexpressing the polypeptides encoded by the expression vectors of thepresent disclosure are well known in the art and include but are notlimited to, bacterial cells, such as E. coli, Arthrobacter sp. KNK168,Streptomyces and Salmonella typhimurium cells; fungal cells, such asyeast cells (e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Pichia pastoris (ATCCAccession No. 201178)); insect cells such as Drosophila S2 andSpodoptera Sf9 cells; animal cells such as CHO, COS, BHK, 293, and Bowesmelanoma cells; and plant cells. An exemplary host cell is Escherichiacoli W3110 (ΔfhuA). Appropriate culture mediums and growth conditionsfor the above-described host cells are well known in the art.

Polynucleotides for expression of the transaminase may be introducedinto cells by various methods known in the art. Techniques include amongothers, electroporation, biolistic particle bombardment, liposomemediated transfection, calcium chloride transfection, and protoplastfusion. Various methods for introducing polynucleotides into cells willbe apparent to the skilled artisan.

5.6 Methods of Generating Engineered Transaminase Polypeptides

In some embodiments, to make the improved engineered polynucleotides andengineered polypeptides of the present disclosure, thenaturally-occurring transaminase enzyme that catalyzes thetransamination reaction is obtained (or derived) from Arthrobacter sp.KNK168. In some embodiments, the parent polynucleotide sequence id codonoptimized to enhance expression of the transaminase in a specified hostcell. The parental polynucleotide sequence encoding the wild-typepolypeptide of Arthrobacter sp. KNK168 has been described (See e.g.,Iwasaki et al., Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 2006, 69: 499-505).Preparations of engineered transaminases based on this parental sequenceare also described in US patent publication no. 2010/0285541A1 andpublished International application WO2010/099501.

The engineered transaminases can be obtained by subjecting thepolynucleotide encoding the naturally occurring transaminase tomutagenesis and/or directed evolution methods, as discussed above. Anexemplary directed evolution technique is mutagenesis and/or DNAshuffling as described in Stemmer, 1994, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA91:10747-10751; WO 95/22625; WO 97/0078; WO 97/35966; WO 98/27230; WO00/42651; WO 01/75767 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,746. Other directedevolution procedures that can be used include, among others, staggeredextension process (StEP), in vitro recombination (Zhao et al., 1998,Nat. Biotechnol. 16:258-261), mutagenic PCR (Caldwell et al., 1994, PCRMethods Appl. 3:S136-S140), and cassette mutagenesis (Black et al.,1996, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93:3525-3529). Mutagenesis and directedevolution techniques useful for the purposes herein are also describedin e.g., Ling, et al., 1997, Anal. Biochem. 254(2):157-78; Dale et al.,1996, “Oligonucleotide-directed random mutagenesis using thephosphorothioate method,” in Methods Mol. Biol. 57:369-74; Smith, 1985,Ann. Rev. Genet. 19:423-462; Botstein et al., 1985, Science229:1193-1201; Carter, 1986, Biochem. J. 237:1-7; Kramer et al., 1984,Cell, 38:879-887; Wells et al., 1985, Gene 34:315-323; Minshull et al.,1999, Curr Opin Chem Biol 3:284-290; Christians et al., 1999, NatureBiotech 17:259-264; Crameri et al., 1998, Nature 391:288-291; Crameri etal., 1997, Nature Biotech 15:436-438; Zhang et al., 1997, Proc Natl AcadSci USA 94:45-4-4509; Crameri et al., 1996, Nature Biotech 14:315-319;Stemmer, 1994, Nature 370:389-391; Stemmer, 1994, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA91:10747-10751; PCT Publ. Nos. WO 95/22625, WO 97/0078, WO 97/35966, WO98/27230, WO 00/42651, and WO 01/75767; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,537,746. Allpublications and patent are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

The clones obtained following mutagenesis treatment can be screened forengineered transaminases having a desired improved enzyme property.Measuring enzyme activity from the expression libraries can be performedusing the standard biochemistry techniques, such as HPLC analysisfollowing OPA derivatization of the product amine

Where the improved enzyme property desired is thermostability, enzymeactivity may be measured after subjecting the enzyme preparations to adefined temperature and measuring the amount of enzyme activityremaining after heat treatments. Clones containing a polynucleotideencoding a transaminase are then isolated, sequenced to identify thenucleotide sequence changes (if any), and used to express the enzyme ina host cell.

Where the sequence of the engineered polypeptide is known, thepolynucleotides encoding the enzyme can be prepared by standardsolid-phase methods, according to known synthetic methods. In someembodiments, fragments of up to about 100 bases can be individuallysynthesized, then joined (e.g., by enzymatic or chemical litigationmethods, or polymerase mediated methods) to form any desired continuoussequence. For example, polynucleotides and oligonucleotides of thedisclosure can be prepared by chemical synthesis using, e.g., theclassical phosphoramidite method described by Beaucage et al., 1981, TetLett 22:1859-69, or the method described by Matthes et al., 1984, EMBOJ. 3:801-05, e.g., as it is typically practiced in automated syntheticmethods. According to the phosphoramidite method, oligonucleotides aresynthesized, e.g., in an automatic DNA synthesizer, purified, annealed,ligated and cloned in appropriate vectors. In addition, essentially anynucleic acid can be obtained from any of a variety of commercialsources.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure also provides methods forpreparing or manufacturing the engineered transamination polypeptidescapable of converting compound (2) to compound (1) under suitablereaction conditions, wherein the methods comprise culturing a host cellcapable of expressing a polynucleotide encoding the engineeredpolypeptide under culture conditions suitable for expression of thepolypeptide. In some embodiments, the method for preparation of thepolypeptide further comprises isolating the polypeptide. The engineeredpolypeptides can be expressed in appropriate cells (as described above),and isolated (or recovered) from the host cells and/or the culturemedium using any one or more of the well known techniques used forprotein purification, including, among others, lysozyme treatment,sonication, filtration, salting-out, ultra-centrifugation, andchromatography. Chromatographic techniques for isolation of thepolypeptide include, among others, reverse phase chromatography highperformance liquid chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, gelelectrophoresis, and affinity chromatography. Conditions for purifying aparticular engineered polypeptide will depend, in part, on factors suchas net charge, hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, molecular weight,molecular shape, etc., and will be apparent to those having skill in theart.

5.7 Methods of Using the Engineered Transaminase Enzymes and CompoundsPrepared Therewith

In another aspect, the engineered transaminase polypeptides disclosedherein can be used in a process for the conversion of the substratecompound (2), or structural analogs thereof, to the product of compound(1) or the corresponding structural analog. Generally the structuralanalogs of compound (1) are encompassed within structural Formula (I)and structural Formula (Ia).

In some embodiments the engineered polypeptides disclosed herein can beused in a process for the preparation of chiral amine compounds. In someembodiments, the present disclosure provides a method for preparing acompound of structural Formula (I):

having the indicated stereochemical configuration at the stereogeniccenter marked with an *; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% overthe opposite enantiomer, wherein

Z is OR² or NR²R³;

R¹ is C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl, heteroaryl-C₁₋₂alkyl, or a 5- to 6-membered heterocyclic ring system optionallycontaining an additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, theheterocyclic ring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to threesubstituents independently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and C₁₋₄ alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines;

R² and R³ are each independently hydrogen, C₁₋₈ alkyl, aryl, oraryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl; or

R² and R³ together with the nitrogen atom to which they are attachedform a 4- to 7-membered heterocyclic ring system optionally containingan additional heteroatom selected from O, S, and N, the heterocyclicring being unsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituentsindependently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and C₁₋₄alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted or substituted withone to five fluorines; and the heterocyclic ring system being optionallyfused with a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic carbocyclic ringsystem or a 5- to 6-membered saturated or aromatic heterocyclic ringsystem containing one to two heteroatoms selected from O, S, and N, thefused ring system being unsubstituted or substituted with one to twosubstituents selected from hydroxy, amino, fluorine, C₁₋₄ alkyl, C₁₋₄alkoxy, and trifluoromethyl; the process comprising the step ofcontacting a prochiral ketone substrate compound structural Formula(II):

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor in a suitable organic solvent under suitable reactionconditions. In some embodiments of the process, R¹ is benzyl and thephenyl group of benzyl is unsubstituted or substituted one to threesubstituents selected from the group consisting of fluorine,trifluoromethyl, and trifluoromethoxy.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound of Formula(I), Z is NR²R³, wherein NR² R³ is a heterocycle of the structuralFormula (III):

wherein R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl which is unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound ofstructural Formula (I), the compound of Formula (II) specificallyexcludes compound (2) and the compound of Formula (I) prepared by themethod specificall excludes compound (1).

In some embodiments, the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity of the present disclosure can be used in a process forpreparing a compound of structural Formula (Ia):

having the (R)-configuration at the stereogenic center marked with an***; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% over the enantiomerhaving the opposite (S)-configuration; wherein

Ar is phenyl which is unsubstituted or substituted with one to fivesubstituents independently selected from the group consisting offluorine, trifluoromethyl, and trifluoromethoxy; and

R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl unsubstituted or substituted with one tofive fluorines; the process comprising the step of:

contacting a prochiral ketone substrate compound of structural Formula(IIa):

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions. In someembodiments of the process for preparing the compound of Formula (Ia),Ar is selected from 2,5-difluorophenyl or 2,4,5-trifluorophenyl, and R⁴is trifluoromethyl.

In some embodiments of the process for preparing a compound ofstructural Formula (Ia), the compound of Formula (IIa) specificallyexcludes compound (2) and the compound of Formula (Ia) prepared by themethod specificall excludes compound (1).

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a process ofpreparing compound (1), sitagliptin,

comprising a step of contacting a substrate of compound (2)

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions.

The present disclosure also contemplates that engineered transaminasepolypeptides can be used for the preparation of other chiral aminecompounds that are structural analogs of sitagliptin. Gemigliptin is anoral anti-hyperglycemic agent in the same class of dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors as sitagliptin. Gemigliptin is a chiralamine compound having the structure of compound (3)

Gemigliptin has structure analogous to sitagliptin (compound (1)), andis within the same genus of structures of Formula (I). Accordingly, inone embodiment, the present disclosure provides a process of preparingcompound (3), comprising a step of contacting a keto substrate ofcompound (4), or compound (4) modified with a protecting group,

with an engineered polypeptide as disclosed herein in the presence of anamino group donor under suitable reaction conditions.

As described herein, and illustrated in the Examples, the presentdisclosure contemplates ranges of suitable reaction conditions that canbe used in the processes herein, including but not limited to ranges ofpH, temperature, buffer, solvent system, substrate loading, mixture ofsubstrate compound stereoisomers, polypeptide loading, cofactor loading,pressure, and reaction time. Further suitable reaction conditions forcarrying out the process for biocatalytic conversion of substratecompounds to product compounds using an engineered transaminasepolypeptide described herein can be readily optimized by routineexperimentation that includes, but is not limited to, contacting theengineered transaminase polypeptide and substrate compound underexperimental reaction conditions of concentration, pH, temperature,solvent conditions, and detecting the product compound, for example,using the methods described in the Examples provided herein.

As described above, the engineered polypeptides having transaminaseactivity for use in the processes of the present disclosure generallycomprise an amino acid sequence having at least 80%, 85%, 86%, 87%, 88%,89%, 90%, 91%, 92%, 93%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% identity to areference amino acid sequence selected from any one of the even-numberedsequences of SEQ ID NO:2-306, and an engineered transaminase polypeptidecomprising an amino acid sequence that has (a) has one or more aminoacid residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from X33L,X36C, X41C/M/R, X48K, X51K, X76S, X122F/Q, X148Q, X155K, X156R, X160P,X215G, X241R, X270T, X273H, and X325M; and/or (b) a combination ofresidue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: (i) X42G,X54P, X152S, and X155T; (ii) X42G, X54P, X152S, X155T, and R164P; (iii)X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, and X155T; (iv) X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S,X155T, and X267V; (v) X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155L, W156Q, and C215G;(vi) X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155T, X215G, and X267V; (vii) X33L;X42G, X54P, X117G; X150F, X152S, X155I, X156Q, and C215G; and (viii)X41K, X42G, X54P, X150F, X152S, X155K, X156Q, and C215G. In someembodiments, the polynucleotide capable of hybridizing under highlystringent conditions encodes a transaminase polypeptide that has thepercent identity described above and one or more residue differences ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R,X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G,X122F/Q, X126A, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S,X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T,X273H, X325M, and X328I.

The improved activity, stability, and/or stereoselectivity of theengineered transaminase polypeptides disclosed herein in the conversionof compounds of Formula (II) to compounds of Formula (I), compounds ofFormula (IIa) to compounds of Formula (Ia), compound (2) to compound(1), and/or compound (4) to compound (3), including various analogsthereof provides for processes wherein higher percentage conversion canbe achieved with lower concentrations of the engineered polypeptide andalso reduces the amount of residual protein that may need to be removedin subsequent steps for purification of product compound (e.g., compound(1)) and purification of compounds downstream of the product compound.In some embodiments of the process, the suitable reaction conditionscomprise an engineered polypeptide concentration of about 0.1 to about40 g/L, about 0.5 to about 20 g/L, about 1.0 to about 10 g/L, about 2 toabout 5 g/L, about 40 g/L or less, about 20 g/L or less, about 15 g/L orless, about 10 g/L or less, about 5 g/L or less, about 3 g/L or less,about 2 g/L or less, about 1.5 g/L or less, about 1.0 g/L or less, about0.75 g/L or less.

Substrate compound in the reaction mixtures can be varied, taking intoconsideration, for example, the desired amount of product compound, theeffect of substrate concentration on enzyme activity, stability ofenzyme under reaction conditions, and the percent conversion ofsubstrate to product. In some embodiments of the method, the suitablereaction conditions comprise a substrate compound loading of at leastabout 0.5 to about 200 g/L, 1 to about 200 g/L, 5 to about 150 g/L,about 10 to about 100 g/L, or about 50 to about 100 g/L. In someembodiments, the suitable reaction conditions comprise a substratecompound loading of at least about 0.5 g/L, at least about 1 g/L, atleast about 5 g/L, at least about 10 g/L, at least about 15 g/L, atleast about 20 g/L, at least about 30 g/L, at least about 50 g/L, atleast about 75 g/L, at least about 100 g/L, at least about 150 g/L or atleast about 200 g/L, or even greater. The values for substrate loadingsprovided herein are based on the molecular weight of compound (2),however it also contemplated that the equivalent molar amounts ofvarious hydrates and salts of compound (2) also can be used in theprocess. In addition, substrate compounds covered by Formula (II), and(IIa), and compound (4) can also be used in appropriate amounts, inlight of the amounts used for compound (2).

In the processes describes herein, the engineered transaminasepolypeptide uses an amino donor to form the product compounds. In someembodiments, the amino donor in the reaction condition comprises acompound selected from isopropylamine (also referred to herein as“IPM”), putrescine, L-lysine, α-phenethylamine, D-alanine, L-alanine, orD,L-alanine, or D,L-ornithine. In some embodiments, the amino donor isselected from the group consisting of IPM, putrescine, L-lysine, D- orL-alanine. In some embodiments, the amino donor is IPM. In someembodiments, the suitable reaction conditions comprise the amino donor,in particular IPM, present at a concentration of at least about 0.1 toabout 3.0 M, 0.2 to about 2.5 M, about 0.5 to about 2 M or about 1 toabout 2 M. In some embodiments, the amino donor is present at aconcentration of about 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 1, 1.5,2, 2.5 or 3 M.

Suitable reaction conditions for the processes also typically comprisethe presence of a cofactor in the reaction mixture. Because theengineered transaminases typically use members of the vitamin B₆ family,the reaction condition can comprise a cofactor selectedfrom-pyridoxal-5′-phosphate (also known as pyridoxal-phosphate, PLP,P5P), pyridoxine (PN), pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxamine (PM), and theirphosphorylated counterparts; pyridoxine phosphate (PNP), andpyridoxamine phosphate (PMP). In some embodiments, the suitable reactionconditions can comprise the presence of a cofactor selected from PLP,PN, PL, PM, PNP, and PMP, at a concentration of about 0.1 g/L to about10 g/L, about 0.2 g/L to about 5 g/L, about 0.5 g/L to about 2.5 g/L. Insome embodiments, the cofactor is PLP. Accordingly, in some embodiments,the suitable reaction conditions can comprise the presence of thecofactor, PLP, at a concentration of about 0.1 g/L to about 10 g/L,about 0.2 g/L to about 5 g/L, about 0.5 g/L to about 2.5 g/L. In someembodiments, the reaction conditions comprise a PLP concentration ofabout 10 g/L or less, about 5 g/L or less, about 2.5 g/L or less, about1.0 g/L or less, about 0.5 g/L or less, or about 0.2 g/L or less.

In some embodiments of the process (e.g., where whole cells or lysatesare used), the cofactor is present naturally in the cell extract anddoes not need to be supplemented. In some embodiments of the process(e.g., using partially purified, or purified transaminase enzyme), theprocess can further comprise a step of adding cofactor to the enzymereaction mixture. In some embodiments, the cofactor is added either atthe beginning of the reaction and/or additional cofactor is added duringthe reaction.

During the course of the transamination reactions, the pH of thereaction mixture may change. The pH of the reaction mixture may bemaintained at a desired pH or within a desired pH range. This may bedone by the addition of an acid or a base, before and/or during thecourse of the reaction. Alternatively, the pH may be controlled by usinga buffer. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the reaction conditioncomprises a buffer. Suitable buffers to maintain desired pH ranges areknown in the art and include, by way of example and not limitation,borate, carbonate, phosphate, triethanolamine (TEA) buffer, and thelike. In some embodiments, the buffer is TEA. In some embodiments of theprocess, the suitable reaction conditions comprise a buffer solution ofTEA, where the TEA concentration is from about 0.01 to about 0.4 M, 0.05to about 0.4 M, 0.1 to about 0.3 M, or about 0.1 to about 0.2 M. In someembodiments, the reaction condition comprises a TEA concentration ofabout 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05, 0.07, 0.1, 0.12, 0.14, 0.16, 0.18,0.2, 0.3, or 0.4 M. In some embodiments, the reaction conditionscomprise water as a suitable solvent with no buffer present.

In the embodiments of the process, the reaction conditions can comprisea suitable pH. As noted above, the desired pH or desired pH range can bemaintained by use of an acid or base, an appropriate buffer, or acombination of buffering and acid or base addition. The pH of thereaction mixture can be controlled before and/or during the course ofthe reaction. In some embodiments, the suitable reaction conditionscomprise a solution pH of about 8 to about 12.5, a pH of about 8 toabout 12, a pH of about 9.0 to about 11.5, or a pH of about 9.5 to about11.0. In some embodiments, the reaction conditions comprise a solutionpH of about 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12 or 12.5.

In the embodiments of the processes herein, a suitable temperature canbe used for the reaction conditions, for example, taking intoconsideration the increase in reaction rate at higher temperatures, theactivity of the enzyme for sufficient duration of the reaction, and asfurther described below, increase rate of epimerization of the substratediastereomers (for purposes of dynamic kinetic resolution). For example,the engineered polypeptides of the present disclosure have increasedstability relative to naturally occurring transaminase polypeptide, andthe engineered polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2, which allow the engineeredpolypeptides of the present disclosure to be used at higher temperaturesfor increased conversion rates and improved substrate solubilitycharacteristics for the reaction. Accordingly, in some embodiments, thesuitable reaction conditions comprise a temperature of about 10° C. toabout 70° C., about 10° C. to about 65° C., about 15° C. to about 60°C., about 20° C. to about 60° C., about 20° C. to about 55° C., about30° C. to about 55° C., or about 40° C. to about 50° C. In someembodiments, the suitable reaction conditions comprise a temperature ofabout 10° C., 15° C., 20° C., 25° C., 30° C., 35° C., 40° C., 45° C.,50° C., 55° C., 60° C., 65° C., or 70° C. In some embodiments, thetemperature during the enzymatic reaction can be maintained at atemperature throughout the course of the reaction. In some embodiments,the temperature during the enzymatic reaction can be adjusted over atemperature profile during the course of the reaction.

In some embodiments of the process, the suitable reaction conditions canfurther comprise the presence of the reduced cofactor, nicotinamideadenine dinucleotide (NADH), which can act to limit the inactivation ofthe transaminase enzyme (See e.g., van Ophem et al., 1998, Biochemistry37(9):2879-88). In such embodiments where NADH is present, a cofactorregeneration system, such as glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) and glucose orformate dehydrogenase and formate can be used to regenerate the NADH inthe reaction medium.

The processes using the engineered transaminases are generally carriedout in a solvent. Suitable solvents include water, aqueous buffersolutions, organic solvents, and/or co-solvent systems, which generallycomprise aqueous solvents and organic solvents. The aqueous solvent(water or aqueous co-solvent system) may be pH-buffered or unbuffered.In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered transaminasepolypeptides are generally carried out in an aqueous co-solvent systemcomprising an organic solvent (e.g., ethanol, isopropanol (IPA),dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, 1-octanol,heptane, octane, methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), toluene, and the like),ionic liquids (e.g., 1-ethyl 4-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate,1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate,1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, and the like). Theorganic solvent component of an aqueous co-solvent system may bemiscible with the aqueous component, providing a single liquid phase, ormay be partly miscible or immiscible with the aqueous component,providing two liquid phases. Exemplary aqueous co-solvent systemscomprises water and one or more organic solvent. In general, an organicsolvent component of an aqueous co-solvent system is selected such thatit does not completely inactivate the transaminase enzyme. Appropriateco-solvent systems can be readily identified by measuring the enzymaticactivity of the specified engineered transaminase enzyme with a definedsubstrate of interest in the candidate solvent system, utilizing anenzyme activity assay, such as those described herein. In someembodiments of the process, the suitable reaction conditions comprise anaqueous co-solvent comprising DMSO at a concentration of about 1% toabout 80% (v/v), about 1 to about 70% (v/v), about 2% to about 60%(v/v), about 5% to about 40% (v/v), 10% to about 40% (v/v), 10% to about30% (v/v), or about 10% to about 20% (v/v). In some embodiments of theprocess, the suitable reaction conditions comprise an aqueous co-solventcomprising DMSO at a concentration of at least about 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%,20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, or 80%(v/v).

The suitable reaction conditions can comprise a combination of reactionparameters that provide for the biocatalytic conversion of the substratecompounds to its corresponding product compounds. Accordingly, in someembodiments of the process, the combination of reaction parameterscomprises: (a) substrate loading of about 10 to 200 g/L of substratecompound (e.g. compound (2)); (b) engineered polypeptide concentrationof about 0.5 g/L to 5 g/L; (c) IPM concentration of about 0.1 to 3 M;(d) PLP cofactor concentration of about 0.1 to 1 mM; (e) DMSOconcentration of about 30% (v/v) to about 60% (v/v); (f) pH of about 9.5to 11.5; and (g) temperature of about 45° C. to 60° C.

In some embodiments, the combination of reaction parameters comprises:(a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound (e.g. compound (2)); (b) about 2g/L engineered polypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v) dimethylsulfoxide(DMSO); (d) about 1 M isopropylamine (IPM); (e) about 1 mM pyridoxalphosphate (PLP); (f) about pH 10; and (g) about 50° C.

In some embodiments, the combination of reaction parameters comprises:(a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound (e.g. compound (2)); (b) about 1g/L engineered polypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v) dimethylsulfoxide(DMSO); (d) about 1 M isopropylamine (IPM); (e) about 1 mM pyridoxalphosphate (PLP); (f) about pH 11; and (g) about 55° C.

In some embodiments, the combination of reaction parameters comprises:(a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound (e.g. compound (2)); (b) about0.5 g/L engineered polypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v) dimethylsulfoxide(DMSO); (d) about 2 M isopropylamine (IPM); (e) about 1 mM pyridoxalphosphate (PLP); (f) about pH 11.5; and (g) about 55° C.

Further exemplary reaction conditions include the assay conditionsprovided in Tables 2A, 2B, and 2C, and Example 1.

In carrying out the transamination reactions described herein, theengineered transaminase polypeptide may be added to the reaction mixturein the partially purified or purified enzyme, whole cells transformedwith gene(s) encoding the enzyme, and/or as cell extracts and/or lysatesof such cells. Whole cells transformed with gene(s) encoding theengineered transaminase enzyme or cell extracts, lysates thereof, andisolated enzymes may be employed in a variety of different forms,including solid (e.g., lyophilized, spray-dried, and the like) orsemisolid (e.g., a crude paste). The cell extracts or cell lysates maybe partially purified by precipitation (e.g., ammonium sulfate,polyethyleneimine, heat treatment or the like), followed by a desaltingprocedure (e.g., ultrafiltration, dialysis, and the like) prior tolyophilization. Any of the enzyme preparations may be stabilized bycrosslinking using known crosslinking agents, such as, for example,glutaraldehyde, or immobilized to a solid phase material (e.g., resins,beads such as chitosan, Eupergit C, SEPABEADs, and the like).

In some embodiments of the transamination reactions described herein,the reaction is carried out under the suitable reaction conditionsdescribed herein, wherein the engineered transaminase polypeptide isimmobilized to a solid support. Solid supports useful for immobilizingthe engineered transaminases for carrying out the transaminationreactions include but are not limited to beads or resins comprisingpolymethacrylate with epoxide functional groups, polymethacrylate withamino epoxide functional groups, styrene/DVB copolymer orpolymethacrylate with octadecyl functional groups. Exemplary solidsupports include, but are not limited to, chitosan beads, Eupergit C,and SEPABEADs (Mitsubishi), including the following different types ofSEPABEAD: EC-EP, EC-HFA/S, EXA252, EXE119 and EXE120.

In some embodiments where the engineered polypeptide can be expressed inthe form of a secreted polypeptide, the culture medium containing thesecreted polypeptides can be used in the process herein.

In some embodiments, solid reactants (e.g., enzyme, salts, etc.) may beprovided to the reaction in a variety of different forms, includingpowder (e.g., lyophilized, spray dried, and the like), solution,emulsion, suspension, and the like. The reactants can be readilylyophilized or spray dried using methods and equipment that are known tothose having ordinary skill in the art. For example, the proteinsolution can be frozen at −80° C. in small aliquots, then added to apre-chilled lyophilization chamber, followed by the application of avacuum.

In some embodiments, the order of addition of reactants is not critical.The reactants may be added together at the same time to a solvent (e.g.,monophasic solvent, biphasic aqueous co-solvent system, and the like),or alternatively, some of the reactants may be added separately, andsome together at different time points. For example, the cofactor,transaminase, and transaminase substrate may be added first to thesolvent. For improved mixing efficiency when an aqueous co-solventsystem is used, the transaminase, and cofactor may be added and mixedinto the aqueous phase first. The organic phase may then be added andmixed in, followed by addition of the transaminase substrate.Alternatively, the transaminase substrate may be premixed in the organicphase, prior to addition to the aqueous phase.

In some embodiments, the process can further comprise a step of removalof the carbonyl by-product formed from the amino group donor when theamino group is transferred to the substrate compound of Formula (II),(IIa), compound (2), or compound (4). Such removal in situ can reducethe rate of the reverse reaction such that the forward reactiondominates and more substrate is then converted to product. Removal ofthe carbonyl by-product can be carried out in a number of ways. Wherethe amino group donor is an amino acid, such as alanine, the carbonylby-product, a keto acid, can be removed by reaction with a peroxide(see, e.g., US Patent Publication 2008/0213845A1, incorporated herein byreference). Peroxides which can be used include, among others, hydrogenperoxide; peroxyacids (peracids) such as peracetic acid (CH₃CO₃H),trifluoroperacetic acid and metachloroperoxybenzoic acid; organicperoxides such as t-butyl peroxide ((CH₃)₃COOH), or other selectiveoxidants such as tetrapropylammonium perruthenate, MnO₂, KMnO₄,ruthenium tetroxide and related compounds. Alternatively, pyruvateremoval can be achieved via its reduction to lactate by employinglactate dehydrogenase to shift equilibrium to the product amine (see,e.g., Koszelewski et al., 2008, Adv Syn Catal. 350: 2761-2766). Pyruvateremoval can also be achieved via its decarboxylation to carbon dioxideacetaldehyde by employing pyruvate decarboxylase (see, e.g., Höhne etal., 2008, Chem BioChem. 9: 363-365).

In some embodiments, where the choice of the amino donor results in acarbonyl by-product that has a vapor pressure higher than water (e.g., alow boiling co-product such as a volatile organic carbonyl compound),the carbonyl by-product can be removed by sparging the reaction solutionwith a non-reactive gas or by applying a vacuum to lower the reactionpressure and removing the carbonyl by-product present in the gas phase.A non-reactive gas is any gas that does not react with the reactioncomponents. Various non-reactive gases include nitrogen and noble gases(e.g., inert gases). In some embodiments, the non-reactive gas isnitrogen gas. In some embodiments, the amino donor used in the processis isopropylamine (IPM), which forms the carbonyl by-product acetoneupon transfer of the amino group to the amino group acceptor. Theacetone can be removed by sparging with nitrogen gas or applying avacuum to the reaction solution and removing the acetone from the gasphase by an acetone trap, such as a condenser or other cold trap.Alternatively, the acetone can be removed by reduction to isopropanolusing a ketoreductase.

In some embodiments of the process where the carbonyl by-product isremoved, the corresponding amino group donor can be added during thetransamination reaction to replenish the amino group donor and/ormaintain the pH of the reaction. Replenishing the amino group donor alsoshifts the equilibrium towards product formation, thereby increasing theconversion of substrate to product. Thus, in some embodiments where theamino group donor is IPM and the acetone product is removed in situ, theprocess can further comprise a step of adding IPM to the reactionsolution to replenish the amino group donor lost during the acetoneremoval and to maintain the pH of the reaction (e.g., at about 8.5 toabout pH 11.5).

In some embodiments, it is also contemplated that the process comprisingthe biocatalytic conversion of amine acceptor substrate compounds tochiral amine product compounds using transaminase polypeptides of thepresent disclosure can further comprise steps of formation ofpharmaceutically acceptable salts or acids, pharmaceutically acceptableformulations, product work-up, extraction, isolation, purification,and/or crystallization, each of which can be carried out under a rangeof conditions.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the process furthercomprises the step of isolating the compound of Formula (I), thecompound of Formula (Ia), the compound (1), or the compound (3) from thereaction.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the process furthercomprises the step of converting the compound of Formula (I), compoundof Formula (Ia), the compound (1) or the compound (3) into apharmaceutically acceptable salt by contacting said compound with apharmaceutically acceptable acid in a suitable reaction solvent. In someembodiments of the process, the pharmaceutically acceptable acid isphosphoric acid and the pharmaceutically acceptable salt is thedihydrogen phosphate salt. In some embodiments, the processes canfurther comprise the step of crystallizing the pharmaceuticallyacceptable salt from the reaction solvent.

In some embodiments, the processes using the engineered polypeptidesdisclosed herein can be carried out wherein the amino group donor isselected from isopropylamine, alanine, 3-aminobutyric acid, ormethylbenzylamine In some embodiments, the amino group donor isisopropylamine.

As noted above, the compound (1) is sitagliptin, the activepharmaceutical ingredient in JANUVIA®. Accordingly, the processesdisclosed herein using engineered polypeptides for making compound (1),and/or its pharmaceutically acceptable acid or salt, can be used inlarger processes for the production of JANUVIA® or relatedpharmaceutical compounds. In some embodiments the present disclosurealso provides a process for the preparation of(2R)-4-oxo-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl]-1-(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)butan-2-aminephosphate (1:1) monohydrate, wherein the process comprises a step ofconverting a substrate compound (2) to a product compound (1) bycontacting a substrate of compound (2) with an engineered polypeptide asdisclosed herein in the presence of an amino group donor under suitablereaction conditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure further provides a processfor the preparation of compound (3), or a pharmaceutically acceptablesalt or acid of compound (3), wherein the process comprises a step ofconverting a substrate compound (4), or a substrate of compound (4)modified with a protecting group, to a product compound (3), bycontacting a substrate of compound (4), or a substrate of compound (4)modified with a protecting group, with an engineered polypeptide asdisclosed herein in the presence of an amino group donor under suitablereaction conditions.

Methods, techniques, and protocols for extracting, isolating, forming asalt of, purifying, and/or crystallizing aminated product compounds orcyclized compounds from biocatalytic reaction mixtures produced by theabove disclosed processes are known to the ordinary artisan and/oraccessed through routine experimentation. Additionally, illustrativemethods are provided in the Examples below.

Various features and embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated inthe following representative examples, which are intended to beillustrative, and not limiting.

6. EXAMPLES Example 1 Synthesis, Optimization, and Screening ofEngineered Polypeptides

A. Gene Acquisition and Optimization

A codon-optimized and engineered transaminase gene (SEQ ID NO:1)encoding the reference engineered polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 was used asthe starting backbone for directed evolution to generate the genesencoding the engineered polypeptides having transaminase activity of theeven-numbered sequence identifiers of SEQ ID NO:4-306, each of which iscapable of converting the substrate compound (2) to the product compound(1) with improved enzyme properties relative to it and/or the referencepolypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2. The gene of SEQ ID NO:1 and polypeptide ofSEQ ID NO:2 of the present disclosure correspond to SEQ ID NO:109 and110 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23, 2012. The engineeredtransaminase polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 has the following 28 amino aciddifferences relative to the wild-type Arthrobacter sp. KNK168polypeptide sequence (GenBank accession: BAK39753.1; GI:336088341): S8P,Y60F, L61Y, H62T, V65A, V69T, D81G, M94I, I96L, F122M, S124T, S126T,G136F, Y150S, V152C, A169L, V199I, A209L, G215C, G217N, S223P, L269P,L273Y, T282S, A284G, P297S, I306V, and S321P. Cloning of SEQ ID NO:1 inthe pCK110900 vector system (See e.g., US Patent Application Publication2006/0195947A1) and subsequent expression in E. coli W3110fhuA was asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2, issued Oct. 23, 2012. Briefly,the E. coli W3110 expresses the transaminase polypeptides as anintracellular protein under the control of the lac promoter. Thepolypeptide accumulates primarily as a soluble cytosolic, active enzyme.Standard methods of directed evolution via iterative variant librarygeneration by gene synthesis followed by screening and sequencing ofhits to generate the engineered derivatives of the gene sequence SEQ IDNO:1 disclosed herein. HTP assays used for primary screening werecarried out using the cleared cell-lysate from expression of these E.coli W3110 cells (see Table 2A and below).

B. HTP Assays

E. coli cells expressing the engineered polypeptides were lysed byadding 200 μL of lysis buffer containing 0.1 M TEA buffer, 1 g/Llysozyme, and 0.5 g/L polymyxin B sulfate, and 0.25 mM PLP, at pH 8.5,then shaking (at 250 rpm) for 2 h at room temperature. The general HTPactivity assay conditions were: 50 g/L of substrate compound (2), 1 or1.2 mM PLP, 50% (v/v) DMSO, 20 μL or 40 μL clear cell lysate (containingexpressed engineered polypeptide), 1.5 M or 2 M IPM, pH 11 or pH 11.5,and shaking at 200 rpm and 55° C. for 4 h or 18 h. Assay reaction werequenched by addition of 1 mL acetonitrile and shaking for 5 minutes,followed by centrifuge of plate for 10 min at 4000×g at 18° C. Specificlysis and assay reaction conditions are noted in Table 2A.

C. SFP Preparations and Assays

In addition to the HTP assay for primary screening, in some cases asecondary screening was carried out on a 5 mL scale using shake-flaskpowder (SFP) preparations of the engineered transaminase polypeptides.Shake flask powder (SFP) include approximately 30% total protein andaccordingly provide a more purified preparation of an engineered enzymeas compared to the cell lysate used in HTP assays.

For preparing SFPs, a single microbial colony of E. coli containing aplasmid encoding an engineered transaminase of interest was inoculatedinto 50 mL Luria Bertani broth containing 30 μg/mL chloramphenicol (CAM)and 1% glucose. Cells were grown overnight (at least 16 hours) in anincubator at 30° C. with shaking at 250 rpm. The culture was dilutedinto 250 mL of 2×YT media (Difco) containing 30 μg/ml CAM and 100 mMpyridoxine, in a 1000 mL flask to an optical density at 600 nm (OD₆₀₀)of 0.1 and allowed to grow at 30° C. Expression of the engineeredtransaminase gene was induced by addition ofisopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (“IPTG”) to a final concentration of 1 mMwhen the OD₆₀₀ of the culture was 0.6 to 0.8. Incubation was thencontinued overnight (at least 16 hours). Cells were harvested bycentrifugation (5000 rpm, 30 min, 5° C.) and the supernatant discarded.The cell pellet was resuspended with 12 mL of cold (4° C.) 50 mMpotassium phosphate buffer pH 8.5, containing 100 μM pyridoxal 5′phosphate, and passed once through a one shot disrupter (Constant SystemLtd) at 16 kpsi, while being maintained at 4° C. Cell debris was removedby centrifugation (10000 rpm, 40 minutes, 5° C.). The clear lysatesupernatant was collected and stored at −80° C. Lyophilization of frozenclear lysate provides a dry shake-flask powder of crude transaminasepolypeptide. Alternatively, the cell pellet (before or after washing)can be stored at 4° C. or −80° C.

The general SFP assay contained following starting reaction mixture in atotal volume of 5 mL: 50 g/L substrate of compound (2), 0.5, 1 or 2 g/Lof the engineered polypeptide SFP, 1 or 1.2 mM PLP, 1 M or 2 M IPM, 50%(v/v) DMSO, and 0.05 M TEA buffer. The SFP reaction conditions were: pH10 and 50° C.; pH 11.5 and 55° C.; or pH 11.5 and 60° C. The SFP assayreaction time was 2 or 24 h with stirring at 250 rpm with a magneticstirrer.

The general protocol for the SFP assay was as follows. A stock solution(premix) was prepared daily for every set of experiments as follows: to0.5 mL of 10 or 12 mM PLP in sterile water, 0.82 mL of IPM, 2.5 mL DMSO,and substrate compound (2) at 50 g/L concentration. The pH of the premixsolution was adjusted with 37% HCl. A 25, 50 or 100 g/L engineeredpolypeptide stock solution was prepared by dissolving 12.5, 25 or 50 mgof SFP of the polypeptide in 0.5 mL TEA buffer (0.1 M, pH 8.5).

For each experiment, 4.9 mL of premix stock solution was added into aglass screw cap vial. The vial was tightly closed and heated to 50, 55or 60° C. with magnetic stirring at 250 rpm. A 100 μL of a solution ofthe enzyme power in 0.2 M borate, pH 10.5 was added to the reactionmixture. The vial was tightly closed and the reaction allowed tocontinue stirring for 2 or 24 h. The reaction was quenched after 2 or 24h by addition of 20 mL of acetonitrile.

D. DSP Preparations and Assays

DSP powders of the engineered transaminase polypeptides were prepared asa short batch fermentation followed by a fed batch process according tostandard bioprocessing methods with 5 mM pyridoxine HCl added to feedand fermentor media. Briefly, transaminase polypeptide expression wasinduced by addition of IPTG to a final concentration of 1 mM. Followingfermentation, the cells were harvested and resuspended in 100 mM TEAbuffer with pH 7.5, then mechanically disrupted by transaminasepolypeptide homogenization. The cell debris and nucleic acid wasflocculated with polyethylenimine (PEI) and the suspension clarified bycentrifugation. The resulting clear supernatant was concentrated using atangential cross-flow ultrafiltration membrane to remove salts andwater. The concentrated and partially purified enzyme concentrate wasthen dried in a lyophilizer to provide the DSP powder, which waspackaged in containers (e.g., polyethylene).

DSP activity assays were carried out at 5 mL scale using the samemethods described above for the SFP activity assays with the onlydifference being that the final assay concentration of the engineeredpolypeptide DSP was only 0.5 g/L or 1.0 g/L.

E. HPLC Analysis of Assays

After running the HTP, SFP or DSP assays as described above, samplesfrom the acetonitrile quenched assay reaction solutions were analyzed todetermine the percent conversion of the substrate of compound (2) to theproduct of compound (1) as well as the stereoisomeric purity (i.e., %e.e.) of the product using standard achiral and chiral HPLC analyticalmethods as described in e.g., Example 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,293,507 B2(see also: Savile, et al., 2010, “Biocatalytic asymmetric synthesis ofchiral amines from ketones applied to sitagliptin manufacture,” Science329(5989): 305-9 and Supporting Online Materials).

Briefly, percent conversion of the substrate of compound (2) to compound(1) was determined using an Agilent 1200 HPLC equipped with an AgilentEclipse XDB-C8 column (4.6×150 mm, 5 μm), using 45:55 10 mM NH₄Ac/MeCNas eluent at a flow rate of 1.5 ml/min and a column temperature 40° C.Retention times: substrate compound (2)=1.7 min; compound (1)=1.4 min.The substrate and product in the eluant were determined as the peak areaat 210 nm or 286 nm, with a path length of 1 cm.

Stereoisomeric purity of compound (1) was determined using an Agilent1200 HPLC equipped with a Daicel Chiralpak AD-H column (4.6×150 mm, 5μm) using 60:40:0.1:0.1 EtOH/Heptane/diethylamine/water as the eluent ata flow rate of 0.8 ml/min and a column temperature of 35° C. Retentiontimes: substrate compound (2)=6.3 min; (S)-enantiomeric productcompound=8.4 min; compound (1)=10.8 min. The substrate and product weredetermined as the peak area at 210 nm or 268 nm with a path length of 1cm.

F. Results

Results of specific activity, stability, and stereopurity assays for theHTP, SFP, and DSP preparations of specific engineered polypeptideshaving transaminase activity of present disclosure are provided inTables 2A, 2B, and 2C.

All publications, patents, patent applications and other documents citedin this application are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties for all purposes to the same extent as if each individualpublication, patent, patent application or other document wereindividually indicated to be incorporated by reference for all purposes.

While various specific embodiments have been illustrated and described,it will be appreciated that various changes can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention(s).

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for preparing a compound of structuralFormula (I):

having the indicated stereochemical configuration at the stereogeniccenter marked with an *; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% overthe opposite enantiomer, wherein Z is OR² or NR²R^(3;) R¹ is C₁₋₈ alkyl,aryl, heteroaryl, aryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl, heteroaryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl, or a 5- to6-membered heterocyclic ring system optionally containing an additionalheteroatom selected from O, S, and N, the heterocyclic ring beingunsubstituted or substituted with one to three substituentsindependently selected from oxo, hydroxy, halogen, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and C₁₋₄alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy are unsubstituted or substituted withone to five fluorines; R² and R³ are each independently hydrogen, C₁₋₈alkyl, aryl, or aryl-C₁₋₂ alkyl; or R² and R³ together with the nitrogenatom to which they are attached form a 4- to 7-membered heterocyclicring system optionally containing an additional heteroatom selected fromO, S, and N, the heterocyclic ring being unsubstituted or substitutedwith one to three substituents independently selected from oxo, hydroxy,halogen, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and C₁₋₄ alkyl, wherein alkyl and alkoxy areunsubstituted or substituted with one to five fluorines; and theheterocyclic ring system being optionally fused with a 5- to 6-memberedsaturated or aromatic carbocyclic ring system or a 5- to 6-memberedsaturated or aromatic heterocyclic ring system containing one to twoheteroatoms selected from O, S, and N, the fused ring system beingunsubstituted or substituted with one to two substituents selected fromhydroxy, amino, fluorine, C₁₋₄ alkyl, C₁₋₄ alkoxy, and trifluoromethyl;the process comprising the step of contacting a compound of structuralFormula (II):

with an engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity comprisingan amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity toreference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and an alanine at position 126, in thepresence of an amino group donor in a suitable organic solvent undersuitable reaction conditions.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein theamino acid sequence of said engineered polypeptide having transaminaseactivity further comprises one or more residue differences as comparedto SEQ ID NO:2, selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G,X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q,X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P,X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, andX328I.
 3. The process of claim 1, wherein the amino acid sequence ofsaid engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity furthercomprises one or more residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2,selected from: SEQ ID NO:2 of claim 1, and further comprising: an aminoacid residue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from G36C,I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M, I41N, I41R, E42G, P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T,A51K, S54P, M122F, M122Q, Y148Q, C152T, Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T,Q155V, C215H, C215L, Y273H, L325M, and A241R; or a combination ofresidue differences selected from: A5K, E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T,and W156Q; P33L, I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, andC215G; P33L, I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L;P33L, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G,S54P, A109S, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R;G36C, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; G36C, E42G,P48K, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R;G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155V, and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G and I267V; I41C, E42G, 554P,I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155K; I41C, E42G, 554P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155T, W156Q, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, E17G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and F160P; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L;I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, F160P, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,and C215L; I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, andC215G; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, and C215G;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G,P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L, and I267V; I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andC215G; I41N, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and F160P; I41N, E42G,S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N, S49T, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A, A44Q, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V;E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S49T,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S, Q155T,L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G,S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, N76S,T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q, and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P,M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, C215G, and A241R; E42G, 554P, M122Q,S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q,S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, T126M,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V,and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, andC215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andI267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G,and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155I,and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M,and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155V, and W156S.
 4. Theprocess of claim 1, wherein R¹ is benzyl wherein the phenyl group ofbenzyl is unsubstituted or substituted one to three substituentsselected from the group consisting of fluorine, trifluoromethyl, andtrifluoromethoxy.
 5. The process of claim 1, wherein Z is NR²R^(3.) 6.The process of claim 5, wherein NR²R³ is a heterocycle of the structuralFormula (III):

wherein R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl which is unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines.
 7. The process of claim 1,wherein the compound of structural Formula (II) excludes compound (2)and the compound of structural Formula (I) excludes compound (1).
 8. Aprocess for preparing a compound of structural Formula (Ia):

having the (R)-configuration at the stereogenic center marked with an***; in an enantiomeric excess of at least 70% over the enantiomerhaving the opposite (S)-configuration; wherein, Ar is phenyl which isunsubstituted or substituted with one to five substituents independentlyselected from the group consisting of fluorine, trifluoromethyl, andtrifluoromethoxy; and R⁴ is hydrogen or C₁₋₄ alkyl unsubstituted orsubstituted with one to five fluorines; the process comprising the stepof: contacting a prochiral ketone of structural Formula (IIa):

with an engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity comprisingan amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity toreference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and an alanine at position, in thepresence of an amino group donor under suitable reaction conditions. 9.The process of claim 8, wherein the amino acid sequence of saidengineered polypeptide having transaminase activity further comprisesone or more residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2, selectedfrom: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T,X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T,X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L,X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, and X328I.
 10. The process ofclaim 8, wherein the amino acid sequence of said engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity further comprises one or more residuedifferences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2, selected from: SEQ ID NO:2 ofclaim 1, and further comprising: an amino acid residue difference ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from G36C, I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M,I41N, I41R, E42G, P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T, A51K, S54P, M122F,M122Q, Y148Q, C152T, Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T, Q155V, C215H, C215L,Y273H, L325M, and A241R; or a combination of residue differencesselected from: ASK, E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; P33L,I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, and C215G; P33L, I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L; P33L, E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, A109S, S150F,C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S,Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q,and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H;P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; G36C, E42G, P48K, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and C215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, C215H,and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215H, and A241R;G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155V, and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G and I267V; I41C, E42G, 554P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155K; I41C, E42G, 554P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, andC215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, E17G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and F160P; I41C,E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215L;I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P,C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, F160P,and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, and C215L;I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, and C215G; I41F,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, and C215G; I41F, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q,V171I, C215G, and A241R; I41F, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215G; I41K, E42G,S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41N, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and F160P; I41N, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N, S49T, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q,S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L,F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q;E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S, Q155T, L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P,F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, N76S, T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M,A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H;E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q,and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G,C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, V171I,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, T126M, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, andC215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G,S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P,F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P,F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G, and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A,C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P,C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G,and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, andG284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, andC215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, andC215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155I, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P;E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155V, and W156S.
 11. The process of claim 8, wherein Ar is2,5-difluorophenyl or 2,4,5-trifluorophenyl and R⁴ is trifluoromethyl.12. The process of claim 11, wherein Ar is 2,4,5-trifluorophenyl. 13.The process of claim 8, wherein the compound of structural Formula (IIa)exclude compound (2) and the compound of structural Formula (Ia)excludes compound (1).
 14. The process of claim 8, wherein the compoundof Formula (I), the compound of Formula (Ia), or the compound (1) isproduced in at least 90% enantiomeric excess.
 15. The process of claim8, wherein the compound of Formula (I), the compound of Formula (Ia), orthe compound (1) is produced in at least 99% enantiomeric excess. 16.The process of claim 8, wherein the amino group donor is selected fromisopropylamine, alanine, 3-aminobutyric acid, or methylbenzylamine. 17.The process of claim 8, wherein the amino group donor is isopropylamine,optionally at a concentration of about 0.1 to about 3.0 M, 0.2 to about2.5 M, about 0.5 to about 2 M or about 1 to about 2 M.
 18. A process ofpreparing compound (1)

comprising a step of contacting a substrate of compound (2)

with an engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity comprisingan amino acid sequence having at least 90% sequence identity toreference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and an alanine at position 126, in thepresence of an amino group donor under suitable reaction conditions. 19.The process of claim 18, wherein the amino acid sequence of saidengineered polypeptide having transaminase activity further comprisesone or more residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2, selectedfrom: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G, X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T,X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q, X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T,X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P, X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L,X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, and X328I.
 20. The process ofclaim 18, wherein the amino acid sequence of said engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity further comprises one or more residuedifferences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2, selected from: SEQ ID NO:2 ofclaim 1, and further comprising: an amino acid residue difference ascompared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from G36C, I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M,I41N, I41R, E42G, P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T, A51K, S54P, M122F,M122Q, Y148Q, C152T, Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T, Q155V, C215H, C215L,Y273H, L325M, and A241R; or a combination of residue differencesselected from: ASK, E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; P33L,I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, and C215G; P33L, I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L; P33L, E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, A109S, S150F,C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S,Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q,and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H;P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; G36C, E42G, P48K, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and C215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, C215H,and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215H, and A241R;G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155V, and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155K; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, andC215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, E17G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and F160P; I41C,E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215L;I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P,C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, F160P,and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, and C215L;I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, and C215G; I41F,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, and C215G; I41F, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q,V171I, C215G, and A241R; I41F, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215G; I41K, E42G,S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41N, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and F160P; I41N, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N, S49T, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q,S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L,F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T, S54P, I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q;E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S, Q155T, L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P,F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, N76S, T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M,A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H;E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q,and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G,C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, V171I,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I,C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, T126M, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, andC215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G,S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P,F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P,F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G, and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A,C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P,C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G,and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, andG284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, andC215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, andC215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155I, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P;E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155V, and W156S.
 21. The process of claim 18, wherein the aminogroup donor is selected from isopropylamine, alanine, 3-aminobutyricacid, or methylbenzylamine.
 22. The process of claim 21, wherein theamino group donor is isopropylamine, optionally at a concentration ofabout 0.1 to about 3.0 M, 0.2 to about 2.5 M, about 0.5 to about 2 M orabout 1 to about 2 M.
 23. The process of claim 1, wherein the suitablereaction conditions comprise a pH of from about pH 9.5 to about pH 11.5.24. The process of claim 1, wherein the suitable reaction conditionscomprise a temperature of about 45° C. to about 60° C.
 25. The processof claim 1, wherein the suitable reaction conditions comprisedimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) at about 30% (v/v) to about 60% (v/v).
 26. Theprocess of claim 1, wherein the suitable reaction conditions comprisethe substrate compound at a loading of about 5 g/L to about 200 g/L,about 10 g/L to about 150 g/L, or about 50 g/L to about 100 g/L.
 27. Theprocess claim 1, wherein the suitable reaction conditions comprise theengineered polypeptide at a concentration of from about 0.5 g/L to about5 g/L, about 0.5 g/L to about 3 g/L, about 0.5 g/L to about 2 g/L, orfrom about 0.5 g/L to about 1 g/L.
 28. The process of claim 27, whereinthe suitable reaction conditions comprise: (a) substrate loading ofabout 10 to 200 g/L of substrate compound (2); (b) engineeredpolypeptide concentration of about 0.5 g/L to 5 g/L; (c) IPMconcentration of about 0.1 to 3 M; (d) PLP cofactor concentration ofabout 0.1 to 1 mM; (e) DMSO concentration of about 30% (v/v) to about60% (v/v); (f) pH of about 9.5 to 11.5; and (g) temperature of about 45°C. to 60° C.
 29. The process of claim 27, wherein the suitable reactionconditions comprise: (a) about 50 g/L of substrate compound (2); (b)about 2 g/L engineered polypeptide; (c) about 50% (v/v)dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO); (d) about 1 M isopropylamine (IPM); (e) about1 mM pyridoxal phosphate (PLP); (f) about pH 10; and (g) about 50° C.30. The process of claim 8, further comprising the step of isolating thecompound of Formula (I), the compound of Formula (Ia), or the compound(1) from the reaction.
 31. The process of claim 8, further comprisingthe step of converting the compound of Formula (Ia), or the compound (1)into a pharmaceutically acceptable salt by contacting said compound witha pharmaceutically acceptable acid in a suitable reaction solvent. 32.The process of claim 31, wherein the pharmaceutically acceptable acid isphosphoric acid and the pharmaceutically acceptable salt is thedihydrogen phosphate salt.
 33. The process of claim 32, furthercomprising the step of crystallizing the pharmaceutically acceptablesalt from the reaction solvent.
 34. A process for the preparation of(2R)-4-oxo-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6-dihydro[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyrazin-7(8H)-yl]-1 -(2,4,5-trifluorophenyl)butan-2-amine phosphate (1:1) monohydrate,the process comprising a step of converting a substrate compound (2)

to a product compound (1)

by contacting a substrate of compound (2) with an engineered polypeptidehaving transaminase activity comprising an amino acid sequence having atleast 90% sequence identity to reference sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and analanine at position 126, in the presence of an amino group donor undersuitable reaction conditions.
 35. The process of claim 34, wherein theamino acid sequence of said engineered polypeptide having transaminaseactivity further comprises one or more residue differences as comparedto SEQ ID NO:2, selected from: X5K, X33L, X36C, X41C/F/K/M/N/R, X42A/G,X44Q, X48D/E/G/K/T, X49T, X51K, X54P, X55L, X76S, X108V, X117G, X122F/Q,X148Q, X150A/F, X152S/T, X155A/I/K/L/T/V, X156Q/R/S, X160P, X164P,X165N, X182T, X215G/H/L, X218M, X241R, X267V, X270T, X273H, X325M, andX328I.
 36. The process of claim 34, wherein the amino acid sequence ofsaid engineered polypeptide having transaminase activity furthercomprises one or more residue differences as compared to SEQ ID NO:2,selected from: SEQ ID NO:2 of claim 1, and further comprising: an aminoacid residue difference as compared to SEQ ID NO:2 selected from G36C,I41C, I41F, I41K, I41M, I41N, I41R, E42G, P48D, P48E, P48G, P48K, P48T,A51K, S54P, M122F, M122Q, Y148Q, C152T, Q155A, Q155I, Q155K, Q155T,Q155V, C215H, C215L, Y273H, L325M, and A241R; or a combination ofresidue differences selected from: ASK, E42G, S49T, S54P, C152S, Q155T,and W156Q; P33L, I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, andC215G; P33L, I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, and C215L;P33L, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; P33L, E42G,S54P, A109S, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P,E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,W156Q, and C215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; P33L, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215H, and A241R;G36C, E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; G36C, E42G,P48K, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215H; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K,C215H, and A241R; G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and A241R;G36C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155V, and C215H; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S49T,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G and I267V; I41C, E42G, 554P,I108V, S150F, C152S, and Q155K; I41C, E42G, 554P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155K, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,Q155T, W156Q, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, E17G, S150F, C152S, Q155K,and F160P; I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L;I41C, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41C, E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215G; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,W156Q, F160P, and C215L; I41C, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,and C215L; I41F, E42G, S54P, M122Q, S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, andC215G; I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, V171I, and C215G;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q,V171I, C215G, and A241R;I41F, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G,P48E, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; I41K, E42G, P48E, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215L; I41K, E42G, 554P, I108V, E117G, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, 554P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T,and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215G;I41K, E42G, S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, C215L, and I267V; I41K,E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155K, F160P, C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and C215L; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T;I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and F160P; I41K, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,C215G, and I267V; I41K, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andC215G; I41N, E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and F160P; I41N, E42G,S54P, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T; and W156Q; I41N, S49T, E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, D165N, and C215L; E42A, A44Q, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V;E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150A, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, A44Q, S54P, S150F,C152S, and Q155T; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215H; E42G, P48G, S54P, S150F, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155L, F160P, and C215L; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S49T, S54P,I108V, E117G, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S49T,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, I55L, T126A, C152S, Q155T,L218M, and A270T; E42G, S54P, F60V, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, andC215G; E42G, S54P, T68A, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G,S54P, T69S, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, N76S,T126A, C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M, A270T, and V328I; E42G, S54P, I108V,S150F, C152S, Q155K, and C215H; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,I108V, S150F, C152S, Q155V, W156Q, and F160P; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S,and Q155T; E42G, S54P, E117G, C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P,M122Q, S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q,S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, M122Q,S150F, C152T, Q155V, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, T126M,S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, P135I, F136Y, S150F,C152S, Q155L, W156Q, W192F, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q,C215G, and G224I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, F136I, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, C215G,and G284P; E42G, S54P, F136Y, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V,and G284P; E42G, S54P, S150A, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155I, W156Q, F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155I, W156Q, V171I, C215G, and A241R; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155I, W156Q, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, F160P, andC215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155I, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F,C152S, Q155K, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155K, W156Q, andI267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, G193M, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S,Q155L, W156Q, C215G, S282V, and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L,W156Q, C215G, and T283S; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Q, C215G,and G284I; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, W156Y, and C215G; E42G,S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155L, and C215H; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, andQ155T; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q,F160P, C215L, and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, W156Q, C215G,and I267V; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and W156R; E42G, S54P,S150F, C152S, Q155T, F160P, and C215G; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T,F160P, and C215L; E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, C215G, and I267V;E42G, S54P, S150F, C152S, Q155T, and I267V; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155I,and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155K, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155L, and W156S; E42G, S54P, C152S, and Q155T; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and F160P; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, and W156Q; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and W156S; E42G,S54P, C152S, Q155T, and R164P; E42G, S54P,C152S, Q155T, S182T, L218M,and A270T; E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155T, and C215G; E42G, S54P, C152S,Q155T, and C215L; and E42G, S54P, C152S, Q155V, and W156S.
 37. Themethod of claim 34, in which the amino group donor is isopropylamine.